Will You Be My Wife?
by starry night blue
Summary: [COMPLETE]James finally asks Lily to marry him, what he deosn't know is...brides tend to be really aggressive before weddings. With Sirius' feedback and hints, will he be able to survive till the wedding?
1. Prologue

**D/C: I don't own Harry Potter. All the names and characters are a property of JK Rowling. Kudos to her on this amazing book.**

**Well, here it is! The sequel to "Will You Be My Valentine?". Oh, I've always wanted to write this one, but I just couldn't find enough time, but I have plenty of time before I start university, so…ok, I'll stop babbling now. Thanks to all the people who've reviewed the first story, and without further ado, I give you chapter 1! Enjoy!**

**Will You Be My Wife?**

**Prologue: **

It might've been five minutes…maybe even more, James didn't really know, or care, really…he just stood there and watched her. Lily was looking just as pretty as ever, sitting there under the umbrella in front of Florean Fortescue's Ice-Cream Parlour, sipping at her sundae. James could just stand there and watch her for the rest of the day, especially since it would help him avoid what he was about to do next. Even though Sirius had assured him that everything would go smoothly ("For God's sake, Prongs! We're talking about you and Lily, after all!"), he could help but feel extremely nervous about the whole matter.

He was already starting to consider turning on his heels and running away when Lily turned her head and looked straight at him. James was snagged. Lily grinned and waved at him, and he found himself grinning weakly and waving back at her. Sighing, he dropped his hand to his side and made his way to her table.

'Hey, there, sweetheart,' he said softly, leaning down to kiss her.

Lily returned the kiss. 'Hey, there, yourself,' she replied. She watched him as he lowered himself onto the chair across from her. 'What kept you? You're about fifteen minutes late.'

James rubbed the back of his neck; a habit he tended to use when he was nervous. 'Yeah, sorry about that,' he murmured, grinning sheepishly. 'I…um…met Sirius on the way and he wanted to show me this...erm...new broom he just got. So…sorry, it won't happen again.'

Lily nodded silently. She stirred the contents of her half-empty sundae with her straw. 'So, what's up?' she finally asked, smiling at him. James noted that her smile looked a bit forced. 'Why did you ask me out so suddenly? You sounded pretty serious on the phone.'

'Eh…yeah, that,' James said, rubbing the back of his neck again. He could feel his cheeks heating up. 'Um…can I have something to drink first? My throat's kinda parched, since I…erm…had to run to get here.'

'Here you go,' Lily said, pushing her glass towards him. He started to protest, but she cut him off, 'It's okay. Go on, have it. I wasn't planning on finishing it anyway. It's just way too big for me.'

'Thanks, Lily,' he said. He stared down at the contents of the glass, as though seriously considering whether he should drown himself in them or not. He finally put the straw to his mouth, and took a sip. He took a long sip, hoping that it would buy him some time. 'Mmm…chocolate. That was good. Well…'

He met Lily's gaze and saw that there was a flicker of anxiety in her emerald green eyes. 'James,' she said quietly. 'What's wrong? You've been avoiding me for the last few days, and when I do meet you, you seem rather out of it…if there's something you need to tell me, then I suggest you go ahead and say it without any pleasantries.'

James realized with a jolt what Lily must've been thinking. It was true, what she said, after all. He had been so confused about the "matter" he was about to discuss with her, that he really wasn't paying that much attention to her feelings…or to anything else, at that. Suddenly, he felt all the tension and anxiety which had been building up in his chest fade away. Smiling, he reached out and stroked her cheek.

'Lily, don't be silly, I would never do what you think I would,' he promised her, and could see a smile tugging at the corners of her lips. He took in a deep breath. 'And as to why I've asked you out so suddenly, well…'

Lily was watching him warily, and James couldn't help but chuckle. He reached for the little box inside his pocket, slid off his chair and kneeled down on one knee before her. He opened the box and presented the diamond ring to her. He took her hand and gazed up at her face. 'Lily Evans,' he said quietly, and saw her swallowing down a lump in her throat. 'Will you marry me?'

Smiling through the tears which were starting to build up in her eyes, Lily nodded. 'Yes,' she replied. 'Yes, I will.'

James gaped openly at her for a few seconds, as though not quite believing that she had agreed, before snapping back to focus. He slid the ring around her finger, and then he kissed her hand. Then he got up to his feet and pulled her up to her feet as well. He swept her into his arms. 'I love you,' he said softly.

'I love you, too, James,' she replied.

'Yes, that's it,' Sirius said quietly from some place next to him. 'See? What did I tell you? It was easy, wasn't it?'

James threw a well-aimed back-kick at his friend, and as he heard him wheezing and cursing in pain, he smiled as he leaned down to kiss his fiancé before she could mouth her puzzlement. He vowed to kill Sirius later for tagging along in the Invisibility Cloak.

**-**

**A/N: Well, how was that for a start? It was so sweet, wasn't it? Oh, I'm so proud of myself! Well, ehm, anyway, that's it for the prologue, and if you want to see the other chapters, then I know what'll get me going: REVIEWS! Now, come on, people, cough up...or I'll send Dobby the House-Elf after you!**

_- S. N. B. _


	2. Chapter 1

**D/C: I don't own Harry Potter.**

**Hey! I'm back! Thank you all for the really nice reviews you've sent me; it makes me really happy to know that you liked this story! Well, anyway, I won't keep you any longer. Here's chapter 1! Enjoy!**

**Chapter 1:**

'You did what?'

James looked in panic at the shocked faces of Remus and Peter. They were all sitting in one corner of the Leaky Cauldron, each with a tankard of beer to go. Sirius was too busy grunting and balancing his icy tankard on his swollen knee to notice anything; the Invisibility Cloak was safely tucked underneath James's cloak. James clutched his tankard tightly with both hands.

'Er...what's wrong?' he demanded. 'Why do you guys seem so surprised? Did I do wrong?'

Remus blinked for a moment, and then he laughed and shook his head. 'I'm sorry, James,' he said, chuckling. 'You did nothing wrong. I just...didn't see a proposal coming anytime soon.'

'Oh,' he murmured. He paused for a moment. 'Hey...what's that supposed to mean?'

Remus held his hands up in a surrender gesture. 'Nothing, I swear,' he assured him. 'I only didn't expect you to come asking Lily for marriage in the near future; I thought you were quite happy with your current relationship with her.'

Peter nodded vigorously. 'My thoughts, exactly,' he agreed.

'Hold on a minute! That's not true!' James protested. 'Okay, I am happy with my relationship with Lily, but I do want to move on to the next level! We can't always be dating forever! And anyway, it seemed the perfect thing to do...with Valentine being so close.'

'You set your wedding on Valentine's day?' Peter said excitedly.

'Yeah,' James replied, smiling. 'Valentine's day being the anniversary of our first date...I thought it would make things extra special to Lily's content. Of course, I haven't told her that yet, I mean...I did _just _propose.'

'True, true...well, James, you have my blessing,' Remus said, thumping his friend on the back. He looked towards Sirius, who had kept his silence ever since they got here. 'I've been wondering for a while, but...where does Sirius come in this?'

James shot a nasty look at Sirius. 'Sirius decided to tag along to my meeting with Lily under _my _Invisibility Cloak and _without _my permission,' he said coldly, and Sirius resolutely refused to look at him. 'Obviously, the word privacy doesn't exist in his vocabulary.'

Sirius glared at him. 'Well, I'm sorry for trying to help!' he shot back, and slopped some beer on his jeans. 'Crap...anyway, you know I just came along to help you out if anything went wrong!'

'By scaring me out of my wits' end?' James demanded. 'Honestly! I'm lucky I didn't yell out or I would've probably landed us both in trouble!'

'And you would've probably gotten an engagement ring square between the eyes,' Remus pointed out, as he tried to suppress his laughter.

James glared at him. 'It's not funny,' he hissed. He raised his tankard to his lips and took a long swig. When he finished, he set it down on the table and took a cautious glance at his best mate. 'Er...I'm sorry I kicked you, but it was the only thing that had occurred to me at that moment.'

Sirius grinned weakly at him. 'S'alright,' he replied. 'Uh...while we're at apologies, I'm sorry I came along without your permission.'

'It's fine...just don't do it again,' James told him. He leaned back his chair and crossed his hands behind his head. 'Alright, now all I have to worry about is showing up on time for my wedding...and that's a month from now.'

He paused when no one said anything after that, and watched warily as his three friends exchanged amused looks before they all burst out laughing. James couldn't help but get the feeling that he was missing out on a private joke whose subject was obviously him...and that really got on his nerves. He cleared his throat loudly and they both ceased their laughter.

'I'm sorry, mate...but you obviously don't know the first thing about women!' Sirius wheezed.

'Yeah, you obviously don't know what they're like before their weddings! I've seen it with mum after her second wedding, and...' Peter said, and crumbled into peals of laughter. 'I could only pity her husband.'

Sirius laid a hand on James's shoulder and looked solemnly at him. 'James, mate, I'd get ear plugs if I were you,' he advised him.

-

'Mother! MOTHER!'

Mrs. Evans came hurrying down the stairs, pulling back her hair into a bun as she did. 'Calm down! Calm down, Lily!' she said to her daughter. Lily was standing at the foot of the stairs, and was hoping on one foot before switching to the other. Her other daughter, Petunia, was watching her sister from the living room's door. 'What's wrong? What happened?'

Lily grabbed onto the nearest chair for support, and grinned at her mother despite the fact that she looked dead tired. 'Mother, oh, mother...' she wheezed, and broke into a fit of giggles as she slumped onto her.

Mrs. Evans stared down in alarm at her daughter. 'Lily, what on Earth...?' she started.

'Mum, I'm engaged! Look!' Lily exclaimed, and held her ring before her mother's eyes. 'James proposed to me today! We're going to get married!'

'WHAT?'

They both looked around in unison, and saw Petunia, who was standing in the doorway now, with hands on her lips, her face livid while her bottom lip quivered. Dropping her hands to her sides, she slowly advanced on them, and Lily noticed that her walk was rather shaky. Behind her, she could see the large, beefy face of her boyfriend, Vernon, peering out worriedly at them through the door.

'Erm...hello, there, Petunia,' Lily said uncertainly.

'How dare you?' Lily shrieked, jabbing a finger in her sister's chest. 'How dare you agree to marry that man? Isn't it enough that you turned out to be that...that _thing_? But now you want to marry another one?'

Lily didn't flinch; after all, she'd been quite used to her sister's comments. 'I suppose the term you're looking for is witch?' she said calmly.

Petunia was the one to flinch. In fact, she looked like been forced to drink a whole bottle of aniseed. 'Don't say that word in front of me!' she hissed, with an anxious look towards Vernon, who looked absolutely non-pulsed. When she turned her attention back to Lily, her arms had been folded firmly against her chest and she was glaring at her. 'I will not allow this marriage. You are _not _to marry that piece of filth.'

Lily narrowed her eyes. 'What did you call James?' she demanded. Her voice was like ice cracking. In an instance, she had drawn out her wand, and Petunia involuntarily took a few steps back from her as the tip of her wand started sending off little red sparks. 'I dare you to say again what you just said.'

'I said...um...' Petunia said, and gulped. She shot a pleading look in her mother's direction. 'I'm sorry, I didn't mean...'

'Alright, that's enough, girls,' Mrs. Evans, who had been quietly watching the argument, finally said. 'Petunia, it's not up to you to decided whether this marriage will happen or not, and Lily...well, don't use magic on your sister, okay, dear?'

Looking disgruntled, they both nodded.

'Anyway...' she said slowly, and beamed as she turned to Lily. She pulled her into a hug. 'Lily! I'm so happy for you! And James is such a fine man! Congratulations! You have my blessing! Wait till your father hears about this! He's going to be so _thrilled_!'

'You think so?' Lily said, hugging her back. 'Oh, thank you, mother! I'm so happy!'

Behind them, Petunia mimed sticking her finger down her throat. They broke off at they heard her stomping back towards the living room, dragging Vernon back with her. She slammed the door shut. Bemused, they watched the closed door for a few moments, and sure enough, they were able to hear her shrieking at Vernon. Her words were as clear as daylight, "How come _you_ never ask _me _for marriage?'

-

'You're looking smart. Are you meeting with Lily later on?'

James glanced down nervously at the black sweater and dark blue jeans he was wearing, before looking back at Sirius, who was watching him closely over the rim of his Fire Whisky glass. 'Yeah...she said she's going to meet me here, actually, and she told me to wear proper Muggle clothes,' he mumbled. 'We're going to check out churches this afternoon, so...'

'She wants you on your best behavior, eh?' Sirius said, smirking. James just scowled. Sirius leaned forward, his arms crossed before him on the table. 'See? What did I tell you? It's already starting.'

James made an impatient gesture with his hand. 'What the hell are you talking about?' he said mildly. He cleared his throat. 'It's only natural that you dress properly when you go to church.'

Sirius reached forward and grabbed his friend in a headlock. He ruffled his hair. 'Don't give me that bull!' he said, laughing, while James struggled to break free of his grip. 'When did you even care about what you wore when you go to church? That is totally unlike you, Prongs!'

James broke free. He felt his hair and grimaced. 'Damn it, Sirius! I just combed my hair! Do you know how long it took me to do that?' he protested. 'Damn! Lily's going to kill me! She specifically told me to get my hair dealt with!'

Sirius was twirling his wand between his fingers with a bemused expression on his face. He flicked it at his friend's hair and it was mended in a instance. 'See? All better. There's really no need to fret about it, mate,' he told him, grinning. 'But you're straying from the subject. You can't deny that Lily's trying to control you...and she's obviously succeeding. There's no need to be ashamed of it, though; it always happens with brides at the prospect of their weddings...even though it embarrasses us, men, a great deal.'

James sighed in exasperation. 'For God's sake, Sirius, Lily is _not _trying to control me! She is not like that,' he said, with an edge to his voice. 'Just because she told me to dress nicely and fix my hair doesn't mean that she's trying to control me...and anyway, what's wrong with wanting to look smart, eh?'

Sirius held his hands up in a surrender gesture. 'Nothing, nothing,' he replied, although a smile was tugging at his lips. He took a gulp out of his Fire Whisky and grinned cheerfully. He patted James on his shoulder. 'Well, I'm sure going to miss you, mate!'

James brushed has hand away. 'Stop making fun of me, damn it!' he said, angrily.

'James?'

They both looked around and saw Lily stepping in through the door of the Leaky Cauldron. She was wearing a simple long-sleeved beige cashmere top, and a knee-length jeans skirt, but in James's opinion, she looked absolutely beautiful. Smiling, he slid off his stool and crossed the pub to her. After exchanging a quick kiss on the lips, Lily stood back and looked him up and down, and James actually found himself holding his breath. Finally, she looked up and smiled at him, apparently satisfied.

'You look good,' she declared.

James couldn't help but sigh in relief. 'Really? You think so?' he said.

Lily nodded. 'Yep, you look really smart,' she replied, and smiled at him. 'I'm sorry, did I give you a hard time with the dressing up and everything?'

'What? Oh, no. No, you didn't,' he assured her, and smirked despite himself. _Ha! In your face, Sirius! If this was what he called "controlling", then I'd gladly put up with it everyday!_

'James?' she said worriedly, and he snapped his attention back to her. 'Are you okay? You were sort of...erm...laughing...'

James blushed. _Damn, I was doing it out loud? _'Oh, I was?' he murmured, grinning sheepishly. 'Sorry about that; I just remembered something. Sorry.'

Lily nodded. She looked across his shoulder at Sirius, and waved at him. 'Hi, Sirius!' she exclaimed, and he waved back at her. She looked back at James. 'Well, should we get going, then? We don't want to be late.'

'Ah, yes, of course,' he agreed. He sent a wave in Sirius's direction. 'I'll see you later, Sirius!'

Sirius watched them quietly as they both left the pub, and then he burst out laughing. He was joined by another wave of laughter, and Remus lowered the hood of the Invisibility Cloak. He wiped tears of mirth away from his eyes as he started to peel the cloak off his back.

'Really, Sirius, you should stop...er, _borrowing _the cloak without James's permission,' he wheezed.

'Yeah, I suppose I should,' he agreed. 'But it was worth it, wasn't it? Poor James. Do you think I was too hard on him?'

'Maybe,' Remus replied. He chuckled. 'Eh...I never thought Prongs would be one to complain about his hair; that can't be good. What spell did you use to straighten out his hair, though?'

Sirius scratched his chin for a moment. 'You know, I really can't remember...' he said thoughtfully. He grinned cheerfully. 'Well, James is a wizard; he can sort it out if anything goes wrong! Fire Whisky, Remus?'

-

**A/N: Well, that was it! My first chapter! How was it? I wasn't sure about some of the stuff I wrote; like when Peter talks about his mom's second wedding...they never mentioned his dad, so I just made some assumptions. And Lily's mom, was she even alive when they got engaged? Well, anyway, I do hope you liked it because I'm expecting reviews! (hint, hint)**

_- S. N. B._


	3. Chapter 2

**D/C: I don't own Harry Potter.**

**Hey! I'm back with a new chapter! That was pretty fast, wasn't it? I mean, I just updated a couple of days ago; it's probably because I really want to finish this one quickly. Well, anyway, before I stop babbling, I just want to thank you all for the nice reviews! **

**Enjoy!**

**Chapter 2:**

'James, did you grow your hair a bit longer?'

James touched his hair and frowned for moment. 'Er...no, I haven't,' he said, confused.

'Funny, I could almost swear it was longer than it was yesterday,' Lily murmured, while her emerald green eyes studied his hair. She grinned sheepishly. 'Well, it must be my mind playing tricks on me! Ah, we're here!'

James, still awkwardly feeling his hair, looked up at the huge church before him. His eyes traveled appreciatively at the huge Oak doors, the rose colored marble of the front steps, the tall, beige-painted brick walls, the rectangular glass windows...it all seemed really nice and pleasant. He was sure it was just as nice from the inside. He turned to Lily to voice his satisfaction, but he stopped when he saw that _she _wasn't looking that satisfied.

'Er...Lily, should we go inside, perhaps? You might like it in there,' he suggested, and she reluctantly nodded. He draped an arm across her shoulders and led her up the marble steps. He pushed the door open and they both walked inside. James took a look around the place...the carved wooden pews, the huge organ in a corner, the statues scattered everywhere, the altar...it all looked nice, just as he had assumed. 'What do you think, sweetheart? It all looks really nice, doesn't it? It'll be prefect for the wedding...'

Lily frowned at him. 'Are you sure? I mean, are you really _really _sure?' she persisted. 'Don't you think it's missing something?'

James slowly shook his head. 'No...I don't think it's missing something; there are the pews, the organ...' he murmured, counting them off his fingers. 'I think everything's absolutely in order. It'll be great!'

Lily's shoulder slumped ever so slightly. 'Well, if you say so...' she mumbled, not looking happy in the least.

'Wait! If you don't like it, then we could go look at other churches! We don't have to necessarily pick this one!' he said quickly. 'We'll keep searching until we find a church that you like! We still have lots of time ahead of us! There's no need to worry!'

Lily smiled then, and he felt relieved.

Two hours later, though, James started to regret his decision. They had already visited six churches so far, and none of them were to Lily's liking...he was starting to feel pretty tired already, and wished he had just stuck firm to the first church they had visited. The cab they had taken pulled over by the seventh church, and James stumbled out of it; he had never been that fond of these cars, considering they always made him feel nauseous. What more, _he _was starting to think that his hair had grown a bit longer, especially since he had to brush it out of his eyes every few minutes. Lily climbed out of the car, slammed the door shut and gracefully stepped up next to him. She bent down and peered into his face.

'Darling, are you okay?' she asked, concerned. 'We could do this some other time if you're not feeling well.'

James straightened up immediately; there was no way he was going to go looking at churches another day, he'd rather be done with it now. 'No, I'm okay...don't worry about me,' he assured her, smiling forcibly. 'Well, shall we check out this church?'

'Okay!' she agreed.

Lily looped her arm through his and they both walked towards the church. James crossed his fingers behind his back and hoped against hope that she would be satisfied with this church. Sure enough, when he saw the trance-like wave which had passed over Lily's face as they walked in through the doors, he knew they had hit the jackpot. She turned to face him, and there was a huge grin on her face.

'Isn't this place absolutely amazing?' she exclaimed, happily.

James smiled despite himself. He had to admit that Lily was right; this church was far more beautiful than any of the other churches they had visited today. The beautifully carved dark wooden pews, the brightly-stained windows, the red carpet the ran from the huge Rosewood doors to the altar, the statues...it was perfect.

He slipped an arm around her. 'I take it that you like this church?' he asked, and she nodded vigorously. James looked up and saw a vicar sitting on one of the pews, his head bent. They both crossed over to him and saw that he was murmuring prayers off his rosary. James didn't quite like the idea of interrupting his prayers, but the prospect of going home and taking a long nap was just too tempting. 'Excuse me, father...'

The vicar slowly looked up, and then he backed away towards the further edge of the pew in alarm. 'Wh-what do you want?' he stuttered, fear etched into the lines of his face.

James blinked in confusion, and turned a questioning look to Lily, only to see that she was looking at him in equal alarm. 'What?' he demanded, feeling panicked. 'What's wrong? Lily?'

'H-here...take a look,' she said shakily. She slipped out her compact mirror from her hand bag and handed it over to him.

Feeling slightly dubious, James opened the compact and looked. 'What the hell?' he cried out, almost dropping the mirror in shock. He stared at his reflection. Hair spurted out of his nose and the whole lot of his face was covered in a tangle of black hair. He had no idea where all this hair came from, but he was absolutely sure it wasn't there a few second ago. He looked back at his fiancé. 'Lily?'

She just helplessly shook her head.

-

'I don't understand! Where did all that hair come from?'

They were back in the Leaky Cauldron, and James's hair had been wiped off clean by simple flick of Lily's wand. Unfortunately, though, the harm had been done, considering the fact that the vicar had fled the place well before Lily had even handed him her compact. They both doubted they could ever show their faces back at that church ever again.

James shot a nasty look at Sirius, whom they had met on their way to the pub. Now, Sirius was whistling to himself, while he carefully tried to avoid James's accusing looks. 'I think I know the answer to that,' he replied, icily. 'Just...what kind of spell did you on me, exactly, Sirius?'

Sirius scratched his head and grinned. 'Well, you don't expect me to remember that, do you?' he said. 'I mean, I probably performed a dozen different spells today, Prongs.'

'Sirius,' James said warningly.

Sirius threw up his hands. 'Okay! Okay! So it might've been a hair growth spell! I'm sorry!' he replied. 'But if it weren't for you being so fussy about your hair in the first place, then none of this would've even happened!'

James stared at him. 'Oh, so it's my fault now?' he demanded.

'I didn't say that; I just...' Sirius started.

'Guys! Please, stop it! You're giving me a headache!' Lily said loudly, and they both stopped at once. Lily massaged her temples. 'Okay, so we're back to ground zero now. We're going to have to go looking for churches again tomorrow.'

'What?' James yelped.

Lily gave him an odd sort of look. 'Well, you don't expect me to have my wedding at that church, do you?' she said, incredulously. 'First of all, the vicar would get a heart attack if he ever saw us again, and even if he didn't, I wouldn't want to get married in a place where you looked like Mr. Caveman just coming of his cave.'

Sirius laughed, but James silenced him with a glare. Then he looked at Lily. 'Sweetheart, can't we just choose that first church we saw? It was nice enough,' he pleaded with her.

'No, we can't,' Lily said, irritably. 'We need to be done with quickly, because we still have lots of things to do. We have to find a decent reception hall, flowers, rings, catering company, my gown and your suit, send invitations...here, I've already gone ahead and made you a schedule. If we stick to this schedule, we'll be able to finish everything and still have a few days free before the wedding.'

She took a rolled up piece of parchment from her handbag and handed to him. James cautiously unrolled the parchment and his mouth nearly dropped in shock. He stared, aghast, at the table she had drawn out for him. From what he saw, it seemed that he had been booked nearly every day of the week from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m. . Sirius, who was looking over James's shoulder at the table, was shaking with silent laughter. James looked up at Lily, and saw that she was looking extremely proud of herself.

'Er...thank you, Lily,' he said, grinning weakly. 'This looks...erm...very organized.'

'Yes, I know! Doesn't it? This way we'll know exactly what we'll be doing each day!' she said happily. She suddenly paused and pulled the parchment back to her. 'Oh, wait. I've got to make some changes here...and there...you know, since today's activities were disastrous. Here, all fixed!'

James took it back from here. 'Gee, thanks,' he murmured. 'I don't know what I would've done without you, Lily.'

Missing the sarcasm in his voice, Lily beamed at him. She drained the last of her sherry and stood up. 'Well, I have to be going now. Mom's throwing a dinner party for her friends and I'm supposed to be there,' she informed him. 'I'll see you tomorrow, bye!'

She leaned down and gave him a quick kiss, before turning on her heels and heading to the exit. Once she was out the door, James slumped down against the counter, burying his face in his arms. Sirius patted him sympathetically on the back, and James heard him asking Tom, the bartender for the strongest drink he had.

'So...' Sirius said. His voice came out really weird, like he was trying hard not to burst out laughing. 'I take it that today wasn't exactly a fun trip, eh?'

James lifted his head up. 'No, not really,' he mumbled. 'I never thought Lily could be this demanding and...and irritating! It's like a new side of her, a side which had kept hidden for a really long time!'

Sirius watched James as he mumbled his thanks to Tom, as the latter handed him his drink. 'You shouldn't say that about Lily, James...you don't hate her now, do you?' he asked.

James straightened up immediately. 'Of course I don't hate her!' he said heatedly. 'I was just surprised...that's all!'

Sirius smiled and nodded. 'Good, because, y'know, Prongs, it's just a phase...we told you Lily would be like this,' he said gently. 'Brides are always like that before the wedding; they get worked up easily and they're annoying and demanding and everything, but it's just because they want their weddings to be perfect. After everything is over, Lily will return to her old sweet self, you'll see. Piece of advice, though, from now until then, just go with everything Lily says; it'll make things a lot easier.'

James took a gulp out of his drink and frowned at Sirius. 'How come you know so much about the ladies, eh?' he demanded.

Sirius shrugged and smiled modestly. 'Experience, I suppose,' he replied.

James smirked. 'It's either that,' he said quietly. 'Or it's that you're gay.' Sirius raised his fist in a threatening gesture. 'Kidding! Kidding!'

'It's not funny,' Sirius snapped, as he lowered his fist.

'I'm sorry, mate, you know I was kidding,' James said, smiling apologetically. 'Anyway, I was just pointing out the fact that you're still single...even though a large part of the female population here are after you.'

Sirius shrugged again. 'I guess I haven't found the right woman for me yet,' he said solemnly.

James chuckled. He pulled the roll of parchment Lily had given him open. 'Alright, my best man, should we take a look at tomorrow's agenda?' he asked, and shot a quick glance at Sirius's face to see his expression.

Sirius was silent for a few moments. 'Best man, eh?' he finally repeated. A genuine smile touched his lips and he leaned forward to have a look at the parchment. 'Looks like you're gonna been having a rough day tomorrow...first you're checking out churches and then you're visiting flower shops. Neat.'

'Amazing,' James muttered irritably, and he put the parchment into his jeans' pocket.

'Hey, Prongs, it means a lot to me, thanks,' Sirius said quietly, and James smiled. Then Sirius thumped him on the back. 'Now, moving on to business; about your bachelor party...did you want a stripper or a prostitute popping out of your cake?'

'Hey!'

-

**A/N: There! I finished it! My second chapter! What do you think? I really hope it was good. Poor James, huh? Hehe. So, I've figured out a best man for him, but the problem is with Lily's bridesmaids...know any suitable candidates? Well, anyway, please review this chapter, okay? And I'll try to update as soon as possible!**

_- S. N. B._


	4. Chapter 3

**D/C: I don't own Harry Potter.**

**Hello! I'm back! Sorry it too a bit longer for me to update this time, but my computer's been kinda screwed and I had to fix it. Ehm, anyway, thank you all for the reviews, and for the bridesmaids suggestions; I'm really grateful! Anyway, without further ado, I give you: chapter 3!**

**Enjoy!**

**Chapter 3:**

'Thank you so much, father! We'll see you on the thirteenth at rehearsal!'

With that, Lily took James's hand and dragged him out of the church. James, frankly, couldn't believe that they had actually found a church that Lily actually liked, and that they had managed to agree with the vicar on the day of the wedding without having to deal with any casualties...such as, say, a very hairy caveman in a sweater and jeans.

'Well, that went nicely, didn't it?' Lily said happily. 'Aren't you glad that we got the church business over with?'

James couldn't help but smile; for, truthfully, he was _really _glad they did. He nodded. 'Yes, I am,' he admitted. 'I'm also glad that you found a church you liked. I wouldn't want you to have the wedding in a place you didn't like.'

Lily beamed at him. She stood on tiptoe and kissed him. Then she looped her arm through his and leaned against him. 'Hey, listen, how about we stop at that cafe before we go look at flowers?' she suggested, pointing at a café around the block.

'Sure,' he agreed. He really wasn't in a hurry to go checking out flowers.

They went to the café and sat underneath an umbrella outside. Moments later, a waiter came up to their table and handed them both menus. Lily studied her menu thoughtfully, whilst James quickly settled on the pancakes, considering that he hadn't had that much of a proper lunch...or breakfast, at that.

'I'll just take a cappuccino, thanks,' Lily told the waiter, when he came back to take their orders.

'Pancakes with cranberry syrup for me, please,' James said. Lily gave him a disapproving look after the waiter left. 'What?'

'Pancakes? Do you know how much fats that contains?' she asked, skeptically.

James blinked. 'Er...no, I don't think I do,' he answered. He frowned at her. 'When did you start to care about such stuff, anyway? You never asked about how many calories there were in a meal...you just ate.'

For some reason, Lily looked offended. 'Of course I did care!' she said in irritated tones. 'And I didn't _just_ eat...if I did _just _eat, I'd be as large as Hagrid!'

James laughed. 'Oh, come off it! _You_?' he said, incredulously. 'Lily, you can never be as large as Hagrid no matter how you try. Heck, you can never even be as large as I am.'

Lily narrowed her eyes at him. 'You're not large,' she said.

'My point, exactly,' he said, chuckling. Lily didn't seem to loosen up yet. 'Listen, if you're worried about the fact that you might not fit into your wedding gown, then completely throw those ideas out of your head. You're going to be the most beautiful bride in the world and you know it.'

Lily smiled then. 'Thank you,' she said softly, and then James saw her beckoning the waiter to their table. 'Can I add something to my order, please? I just want a large chocolate muffin along with my cappuccino, if you don't mind.'

James grinned at her. 'That's my girl,' he murmured.

Lily blushed, although she was apparently trying hard to look indifferent. She cleared her throat. 'So, have you decided on who's going to be your best man yet?' she asked him.

'Yup,' James answered. 'It's Sirius, of course.'

'Of course,' Lily echoed, smiling. She toyed with a strand of her red hair. 'I'm not really sure about whom I'm going to chose for my bridesmaids. I mean, there's Alice...there's also Dorcas, and Emmeline, too...oh, and Marlene as well.'

'I notice you've cut Petunia off your list,' he teased her, and she stuck her tongue out at him. 'How many bridesmaids are you allowed to have, anyway?'

'Four...five, I guess,' Lily murmured. 'Oh, and I'm going to ask little Nymphadora to be the flower girl...she'd love it, don't you think? She could give herself some blond curls, and blue eyes...and a tiny button nose. She'd look just like an angel!'

James smiled at the mental image. 'Yeah, she would,' he agreed. He chuckled. 'Hey, how about you ask Professor McGonagall to be one of the bridesmaids? I can just picture her in a flowing pink dress and a fancy hairdo, and some make-up...'

'Ugh! Stop! Somehow, that just made me lose a bit of respect for the old lady...' Lily muttered, massaging her temples. 'I think I'll stick to my own choices, thank you very much.'

James shrugged. 'Suit yourself,' he replied. 'Of course, I'd hate to imagine how McGonagall's reaction's gonna be when I tell her that you've rejected her completely...she's going to be really upset.'

'Don't you dare,' she hissed, although a smile was tugging at the corner of her lips.

'We are inviting her, though, right?' he asked.

She nodded vigorously. 'Of course we are,' she replied. 'We're inviting lots of professors...Professor Dumbledore, Professor Flitwick, Professor Slughorn, Professor Sprout, Professor Sinistra...ugh, and my Divination professor...what's her name? Anyway, she said that if I get married I have to invite her to her wedding.'

James chuckled. 'Why's that?' he asked curiously.

'So she could tell me if it's going to be a happy marriage, and to tell me how many kids I'm going to have...' Lily muttered. 'Like I really want to be hearing that old crap on my wedding day! I couldn't believe it when I got through with Divination!'

James smiled sympathetically. 'Hey...how many people are we inviting, anyway?' he asked. 'A hundred?'

Lily shrugged. 'I dunno,' she murmured. 'I think we'll probably end up inviting more than we intended to, anyway, even if we set ourselves a number, and some people would show up without invitations, and it's no use putting someone outside to check if people have got they're invitations or not, because they're going to just Apparate inside...oh, God, somehow I feel this wedding's going to be one huge mess.'

The waiter came then and placed their orders before them. After he left, James reached out and placed a hand on top of Lily's. 'Hey, this wedding is _not _going to be one huge mess, and you know why?' he asked her, and she shook her head. 'Because you're the one arranging it, that's why...and you're obviously putting your all into it so there's no way on Earth that it could go wrong.'

Lily smiled. 'Thank you, James, I feel much better now,' she said earnestly. She picked up her fork and knife and eyed her muffin. 'So...planning to dig in soon?'

James grinned. 'You bet!' he exclaimed.

-

'Well, that settles the flowers,' Lily said, as they stepped out of the florist's shop. She checked her watch. 'But we've still got a lot of free time left for today.'

James shoved his hands deep into his pockets. 'We don't have to really stick to the schedule, Lily,' he told her. 'If we finish a bit early, then let it be.'

Lily rounded on him. 'Don't think that because you made such a nice suggestion about the lilies and the silver basins back in there I'm going to let you off the hook,' she said, jabbing a finger in his chest. 'We still have a lot of work to do, you know. If we keep letting free time go to waste, then we'll end up scrambling to get everything done at the end!'

James held up his hands in a surrender gesture. 'Alright, alright…I'm sorry!' he exclaimed. He sighed wearily; he was getting really tired of Lily's sudden mood swings. One second she'd be all nice and happy, the next she'd be angry and snappy. It was driving him nuts…and they were still in day 2. 'Alright, so what do you want to do now?'

Lily paused for a moment, as she searched her mind for something to do. 'Well…' she said slowly. 'I was going to start searching for a wedding dress and suit for you tomorrow, so…how about we start searching for a dress today? This will give us plenty of time to search for your suit tomorrow!'

'Okay,' he agreed. 'If you say so.'

Actually, he thought that searching for a dress for Lily was going to be rather interesting; after all, he would get to see her in all those pretty white gowns, and that couldn't possibly be a bad thing, right? But…he had to give Lily credit for proving him wrong later on when they got into one designer's studio; for she managed to turn a most enjoyable experience into a horrible one. He didn't deny that it was nice seeing his fiancé in all those dresses...but a one too many dresses was too much to bear. He didn't know what she seemed to be waiting for, for every time she walked into the room wearing a certain gown and he'd tell her that she looked pretty in it, she'd just frown, turn on her heels and leave to try on another dress.

Finally, after ten dresses or so, she walked into the room looking extremely pretty in the most gorgeous dress James believed he'd ever seen. He was utterly speechless, and just seemed to be opening and closing his mouth soundlessly. Lily seemed satisfied then, and she turned to the designer, who was standing nearby.

'I'll take this one, please,' she said, grinning. 'But it needs a bit of adjustment, I believe...it has to be a little bit tighter around the waist, and...I can't quite put my finger on it, um...what do you think, Pierre?'

Pierre walked up to her, grabbed her hands and got her to do a little twirl before him, then he bent down and started examining the dress, running his hand across the fabric every now and then. James, who was still in the trance caused by seeing Lily in that dress, snapped out of it as he saw the man running his hands over Lily.

He jumped up to his feet. 'Hey!' he said angrily, striding over towards them.

'_Monsieur! Sil vous plait...!_' the designer cried out, backing away several steps.

Lily stood between him and James. 'James, what on Earth is wrong with you?' she demanded angrily.

'What's wrong with _me_?' he shot back. He pointed at Pierre. 'How dare you let him touch you like that, eh? Did you think I was okay with that? I won't have anyone touch you the way he did, do you understand?'

To his surprise, Lily burst out with laughter, and he blinked. Lily slumped against him. 'Oh, God, James! You're hilarious! Really...where do you get those ideas from?' she wheezed, and James could only look extremely bewildered, for he seriously couldn't see anything funny in the current situation. Lily stood on tiptoe and kissed him. Then she wrapped her arms around his neck and smiled at him. 'James, sweetheart, you know you're the only one for me, and I'd never _ever _look at anyone the same way I look at you as long as you're around, so you can rest assured, okay?'

'O-okay,' James replied, feeling a bit dazed.

'Besides, this man's just a designer; it's his job to inspect the dress and how it fits me...got it?' she said, and he nodded. Lily kissed him again before turning back to Pierre. 'Alright, Pierre...can we get back to work, please?'

Pierre, still watching James warily, nodded and moved towards Lily. James went back to his seat. Pierre bent down again and started examining the dress again, and as he bent down further to check the hem, there was heard an unmistakable loud sound of something being ripped. Both Lily and Pierre seemed pretty alarmed then, and they started examining the dress for any tears. Then, as if dreading the worst, Pierre closed his eyes and, as discreetly as possible, tried to feel the back of his pants. His eyes widened and he jumped up to his feet. He started to back away to the back of the studio.

_'Excuzes-moi_ for a few seconds, _mademoiselle_...' he said, smiling nervously, before disappearing into a door at the back.

'Okay...' Lily said slowly, and slowly rounded around as the sound of uncontrollable laughter on James's side. 'James! Oh, for God's sake!'

James was clutching his stomach and tears of mirth were forming at his eyes. 'Did you...do you see his face? God, it was so funny!' he gasped. He put on a French accent. '_Excuzes-moi_ for a few seconds_, mademoiselle_, but I have to go and wallow up in shame!'

As he burst out laughing again, Lily had to really try hard to stop herself from smiling; it really _was _funny, after all. 'James, stop tormenting the poor guy!' she scolded him.

'Well, it made me feel better,' he persisted, and stopped laughing at her stern expression. 'Okay, okay, I'll stop. I promise.'

But when Pierre returned wearing a new pair of trousers and trying, but failing miserably, to appear dignified, Lily couldn't help it, and she crumbled into peals of laughter, herself. Pierre was looking highly affronted.

'_Mademoiselle! Sil vous plait!' _

-

'Ahhh!'

Remus frowned at James, who had just come in and slumped on the chair opposite to him. The he turned and gave Sirius an accusing look. '_He _does _not _look like a man who's just been tormented by his bride-to-be,' he said sharply. 'In fact, he looks rather..._happy_ to me.'

Sirius just shrugged. James sat up straight and looked at the indignant faces of Peter and Remus. 'Er...what's wrong?' he asked.

'We came to offer you a comforting shoulder, but you obviously don't need it,' Peter muttered. 'And after all Sirius told us about Lily being such a hassle.'

James laughed. 'Oh, he told you that, did he?' he said.

'Yes, he did,' Remus said sharply, and Sirius felt himself sinking low in his chair.

'Never mind, I had a great time with Lily,' James said happily. 'It was actually quite fun...we chose a church, we had coffee and pastries, we chose Lily's dress...good Lord, that was funny...and we visited the florist...which was rather interesting. We ended up choosing lilies for decoration...small silver basins filled with white lilies; Lily was quite fond of the idea.'

Sirius chuckled. 'I can imagine why,' he said sarcastically.

'Don't push it,' James snapped. 'At least nothing went wrong today...no thanks to you, of course.'

Sirius threw up his arms. 'I told you a dozen times so far, I didn't mean to use the hair growth charm on you! It was just an accident!' he protested. 'And I already said I was sorry!'

Peter was laughing, banging his fist on the table. 'Oh, God! I would've loved to see that!' he wheezed.

Remus was smiling. 'What kind of spell did you use, Sirius?' he asked.

Sirius pulled out his wand and scratched his head. 'I dunno...it was kind like this,' he mumbled, flicking the wand at Remus. In an instance, Remus was unrecognizable beneath a huge tangle of hair. Several people screamed and backed away from the hairy creature. Sirius just grinned nervously at Remus, who was trying to retain an amount of dignity by sitting calmly at the table. Sirius flicked his wand back at Remus and undid the spell. 'Hehe...sorry, mate. An accident. It was just an accident.'

'I didn't ask for a demonstration,' Remus muttered.

James was laughing so hard he had to clutch his stomach. 'How...come...you hair grew so fast?' he gasped. 'It took...hours...for the spell to take its effect on me!'

'You've forgotten that I'm a werewolf, Prongs…I'm already on the hairy side,' Remus said irritably. He glanced down at Peter, who was rolling on the floor with uncontrollable laughter. 'Well, at least _somebody_ is happy.'

'Hey, by the way, I've been meaning to tell you!' Sirius exclaimed suddenly. He reached into his pocket and pulled out four tickets. 'Tickets for the last game in the Quidditch League...tomorrow evening! Who's up for it?'

'Quidditch?' James repeated. 'You bet I'm up to it! A Quidditch game is the last thing I'm likely to miss! And besides, it's not like I have anything planned for tomorrow! Good one, Sirius; you're definitely forgiven!'

All plans of finding a suit and a reception hall lay forgotten.

-

**A/N: Ooh, James is going to be in lots of trouble because of that...so, anyway, what did you think of this chappie? Was it good enough? I really worked hard on this one so I'm expecting reviews, okay? Wait for my next chappie!**

_- S. N. B._


	5. Chapter 4

**D/C: I don't own Harry Potter. **

**Hello! I'm back with a new chapter! Sorry it took a bit longer this time, but I've been really busy, I swear! Well, anyway, never mind that, I'll let you get on with this new chapter, okay? Enjoy!**

**Chapter 4: **

'James! James! Where are you, dammit?'

Lily took a look around James apartment. She was facing the living room; she could see the sofas, the dining table, the Quidditch magazine James had recently bought, the left-overs from the last Chinese take-out James had brought...but she couldn't see James himself.

'James!' she yelled for the last time, and when she received no answer, she pulled her head out of the fire. As she reached for the pot of Floo Powder above the fireplace, she heard a tsk-tsking sound behind her, and looked around to see Petunia, who was standing watching her with a smug expression on her face. Lily scowled at her. 'What are you smirking about?'

Petunia folded her arms against her chest, and leaned against the doorpost of the living room. 'Ooh, I was just wondering where your darling fiancé had gone off to,' she said airily. 'I do hope that you haven't managed to scare him away, because that would simply devastate mother...although I shouldn't worry about that; I've taken some major precautions, after all.'

Lily frowned. 'What are you babbling about, Petunia?' she demanded, curiosity getting the best of her.

Petunia sighed and dramatically held out her hand so that her sister could see the ring around her finger. 'Vernon proposed to me today,' she said, smirking. 'Look! Isn't this the most exquisite ring you've ever seen?'

'Well, congratulations,' Lily said dispassionately. She took a pinch of powder out of the pot and threw it into the fire, and watched as the red flames turned emerald. 'Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some stuff to attend to.'

Petunia watched the flames warily. 'You're not going to stick your head in the fire again, are you?' she whispered, and her voice betrayed a trace of horror in it.

Lily smiled, and with a small wave, she stuck her head in the flames, shouting the name of the grate she wanted her head to pop out in. She just heard a hint of Petunia's screams before she felt herself being dragged across a million grates, before popping out in the fireplace belonging to James's parent. She was looking at the kitchen now, and she could see James's mother chopping off some vegetables on the kitchen counter.

'Mrs. Potter, is James around?' she asked without any introductions.

Mrs. Potter looked around at the fireplace, smiling at her daughter-in-law as if nothing out of the ordinary was happening. Lily's head was resting amidst the flames, and because of her red hair, it seemed like her whole head was on fire. She dried off her hands on her apron and went over to her. She knelt down in front of the grate. 'Well, hello, Lily,' she said, smiling.

Lily, realizing that she hadn't even greeted James's mother, blushed. 'Erm...hello, Mrs. Potter,' she murmured. She waited for a moment before meekly asking her question again. 'Is James around, by any chance?'

'No, he isn't,' his mother replied. 'Did you check his place? He should be there.'

'Well, he's not...I checked a few minutes ago,' she replied, feeling disgruntled. 'Where on Earth could he be? We're supposed to be looking for a suit for him! He couldn't have forgotten, could he, Mrs. Potter?'

'Well, I dunno about that...' Mrs. Potter said thoughtfully. 'James is not the type to forget stuff. Are you sure you've set a meeting for today, love?'

'Yes, of course I'm sure!' Lily said indignantly. 'I've set meetings with him every day till the wedding! We have to be doing everything together! That's what we agreed on!'

Mrs. Potter looked shocked, and Lily shrunk back a bit. 'You've set meetings with him everyday?' she demanded, and after a moment's hesitation, Lily nodded. 'But, my dear, you can't do that! James needs his space! You don't want to scare him away before the wedding, do you?'

Lily looked taken aback. 'Scare him away?' she repeated. 'How is it possible that I scare him away?'

'Well...' Mrs. Potter said, standing up and heading back to the counter. 'Sweetheart, men don't like to be troubled by wedding details...the idea of a wedding itself is too huge for them. Marriage is a big step, and most of the time, men are hesitant about taking that one step; they know it's a huge responsibility, they know that there's going to be a family and they're going to be the ones taking care of that family...do you see what I'm getting at, love?'

Lily nodded slowly. 'Um...Mrs. Potter, do you mind if I come in?' she asked. 'I could really use some advice.'

-

'That was some game, wasn't it? Go, England! I can't believe they won! I had thought for sure that they were going to lose after Morgans got injured!' James said. He was still reeling from the excitement of the Quidditch match they had just been to. He tied the flag he had been waving in the game around his neck. 'That must've been the greatest game I've ever been to! I'd have been stupid to miss it!'

Ever since he started his work as a Curse-Breaker for Gringotts, James hadn't had much time to practice his hobby; Quidditch. Yet, he tried his best to watch every game, and he rented small Quidditch fields every now and then and had a game with his friends; Sirius and Lupin against him and Peter, since Peter didn't qualify as something close to even being a good player. He wondered if he'd be able to do that after he was married off to Lily.

'I'm always glad to be of service, mate,' Sirius quipped. 'As long as your mother keeps making those amazing meat loafs of hers, I'll do anything for you!'

They were all heading to the Potters's house for dinner, and after nearly five hours at the pitch, they were all feeling rather hungry. They got to an Apparation-safe area, and within a few moments, they had all Disapparated and Apparated in the Potters's living room. His friends having slumped on the couches, James grinned and headed to the kitchen, out of which a delicious smell was wafting over to his nose.

'Where's my...' he started, holding out his arms, and stopped dead in his tracks as he saw Lily at the stove, stirring the contents of a pot. James didn't miss a beat. '...most beautiful bride?' He crossed over to her and wrapped his arms around her from the back. He kissed her lightly on the cheek before resting his chin on her shoulder. He sniffed the air. 'Mmmm! Smells good! What are you making?'

'Tomato sauce for the roast beef,' she answered, without sparing him a look. 'Your mother's up in the bedroom, changing...and your father's in his office.'

James frowned. He turned her around so she'd face him. 'Okay, what's wrong?' he asked.

Lily smiled with polite puzzlement. 'Oh, nothing's wrong,' she told him. 'Whatever might give you the idea that something might be wrong? Could you fetch me that bowl, please, dear?'

James picked up the porcelain bowl which was lying on the kitchen table and handed it to her. She accepted it with a grateful smile and turned back to her pot. James stuck his hands in his pockets. 'Well, your attitude, for starters,' he muttered. 'Why are you being so...formal with me? You didn't even give me a proper kiss!'

'Formal?' she repeated. 'What on Earth are you talking about? And about the kiss...' She strode over towards him, rested a hand against the back of his head against the back of his head and pulled him towards her. She gave him the most passionate kiss he'd ever had in a while. When she pulled apart, he was looking rather dazed. She smiled, satisfied. 'There...all better, aren't you? I don't want to be hearing any nonsense about me not kissing you properly.'

James snapped out of his daze. 'H-hold on a minute! Don't think you're going to get away with this so easily! I still want to...!' he started.

'Will you help me set up the dining table, sweetheart?' she asked imploringly. 'I've got my hands quite full, as you can see.'

James heaved an irritated sigh. 'O-kay,' he grumbled, heading towards the cabinet where his mother kept all the dishes.

'Oh, by the way,' Lily suddenly said. 'The guy from the tailoring shop called today. He was wondering why we missed our appointment with him. Very disappointed, that he was. Said he had been quite looking forward to designing your suit.'

James froze in his tracks as he recalled the appointment Lily had set for his suit selection. Suddenly, her formal attitude started to make sense. Slowly, he turned around and headed back to her. He wrapped his arms around her again and nuzzled her neck. 'And does he know that I'm very sorry I missed out on the appointment?' he asked.

'Oh, don't worry about that,' she replied in a flat tone, pulling away from him and heading to the kitchen sink. 'I apologized deeply for both of us.'

James trailed after her. 'Lily, darling, I'm really sorry! I totally forgot about it! You know how I am when it comes to Quidditch! When Sirius showed me the tickets he had bought, I couldn't think of anything else but the game!' he cried. She didn't give him a second look, so he found himself falling to his knees and clasping his hands before him. 'Please, Lily! I'm really sorry!'

Lily sighed. 'Don't be ridiculous, James! Get up off the floor now!' she said. She grabbed him by the neck of his t-shirt and lifted him up off the floor. When he still looked pleadingly at her, she reached out and clasped her hands behind his neck. 'I'm not mad at you, James.'

James blinked. 'You're not?' he said, puzzled. 'But I missed out on an appointment...'

Lily smiled. 'I know you did, sweetheart...but your mother did have a point, I should give you your own space; I shouldn't burden you with the wedding,' she told him. 'A wedding is something to be looked forward to, but all I've been doing is making it a horrible experience for you, and...I don't want you hating me before the wedding...'

James laughed at that. 'Are you kidding?' he wheezed. 'I would never hate you, Lily! I would never hate the woman I've loved for seven years! Even if you curse me, I won't stop loving you, because I'll be thinking...hey, she must be cursing me for my own good, she probably wants to cure me from some bad habit...this woman is simply amazing!'

Lily found herself laughing too. 'Thank you, James...that's really sweet of you to say,' she said softly.

Neither of them said a word as they leaned towards each other, arms wrapped tightly around them. As his lips met hers, James felt all his concerns and troubles melt away. He was blessed to have Lily, and he would never give her up no matter what. He'd protect her with his life. They only broke apart as they heard a funny noise behind them. They looked around and saw Sirius standing in the doorway, a disgusted expression upon his face. They broke away, both red in the face.

'Ugh...' Sirius groaned. 'I think I just lost my appetite...'

-

**A/N: Soo? How was it? I really liked this chapter, even though it was shorter than usual...it's really warm and realistic, I guess, innit? (beams) Well, anyway, if you did like it, then would you, please, review? It's my birthday today, so I think I do deserve a review!! I'll try to update sooner next time! Thanks for reading!**

_- S. N. B._


	6. Chapter 5

**D/C: I don't own Harry Potter. **

**Hello!! It took me a bit of a while to update this time, right? That's because I had a bit of a writer's block, and couldn't think of a good way to write this chapter, but that's history now!! Anyway, thank you all so much for the reviews you've sent me...and the birthday wishes as well! They made me so happy!! (And they meant that some people actually read my notes, which is, frankly, a huge relief). Anyway, I'll shut up and let you get on with the chapter. Enjoy!!!**

**Chapter 5: **

'Alright, so we have this hall reserved for the fourteenth of February, then. I'll be back with my wedding planner in a few days to discuss decorations. Again, thank you so much for your time, Mrs. Anderson; you've been a great help.' With that, Lily and James waved goodbye at the owner of place, and left through the door.

Once they were outside, James let out a huge sigh of relief. 'I'm really glad we finally found a place for our reception...everywhere else is booked!!' he exclaimed. He looked back at the manor where Mrs. Anderson lived. 'And this place is pretty cool on its own...although it's pretty odd to have a reception at some stranger's house.'

'Well, you said it yourself; everywhere else is booked...I'm just glad that Mrs. Anderson was willing to let us use her ballroom...and it helps that she lives alone in this house,' Lily replied. She grinned. 'These are times when I'm actually very happy to be born to a Muggle family with many connections. It really pays off.'

'Yeah, you're right,' he agreed. 'So, have you thought of a theme for the reception yet?'

She slowly shook her head. 'No, not really...I just want it to be unique; like a one of a kind reception, you know? I'm hoping that Frederic will give me some ideas; he's supposed to be one of the best wedding planners in the magical community,' she told him, and he nodded. She sighed and checked her watch. 'Well, I have to be going now; my family's having dinner with the Dursleys...y'know, Petunia's fiancé. I shouldn't be late.'

James laughed as she grimaced. 'Don't forget to have fun,' he told her.

She rolled her eyes. 'The Dursleys and Petunia cannot be associated with the word fun,' she informed him, and he laughed again. 'So, what are you going to be doing today?'

'Nothing much...I'm just going to hang around with Sirius at the Leaky Cauldron,' he told her, and she nodded. 'Well, I don't want to be keeping you from your important dinner, so...'

Lily scowled at him. 'Yeah, rub it in, why don't you?' she muttered, but she smiled when he dropped a soft kiss on her lips. 'I'll see you later, then.'

She Disapparated before him, and he followed suit. He Apparated in the bustling pub, and looked around for his friend, who was supposed to be meeting him there. He found him sitting at their usual table in the corner, and he headed forward towards him. Sirius had his head bent over his tankard, and only looked up when James sat down next to him and clapped him on the back. His hair was kinda messy and his eyes were watery.

James frowned at him. 'Sirius, mate, are you alright?' he asked, concerned.

Sirius sat upright and pushed his hair out of his eyes. He grinned at James. 'Of course I'm fine, James...I just had a little too much to drink, that's all,' he replied. He made a careless gesture with his hand. 'You were a bit late, so I had a couple of refills.'

'A _couple_ of refills?' James repeated incredulously. 'Looks more like a dozen refills to me. Something's not right...what's bothering you, Sirius?'

'Nothing, I'm absolutely fine, so stop sounding like how my mother would sound if she actually did care about me,' he told him. He placed his hands behind his head and leaned back in his chair. 'So, what did you and Lily do today?'

'Well, we were searching for a place to hold the reception. It was horrible; everywhere was booked! We didn't leave a single hotel or party hall!! All booked! Lily was even thinking of searching for a place outside the country; we could simple Disapparate and Apparate there, she said, before remembering that some of the guests where Muggles and wouldn't be too happy about using magic as a way of travel,' he said, frustrated. 'But in the end we managed to find one, and it's a really nice one at that.'

Sirius nodded, smiling. 'That's good,' he said. He chuckled. 'God, I can't believe you two are getting married. I mean, I know that you've been engaged for over two weeks now, but I still can't believe it.'

'Yeah...me and Lily...it is quite unbelievable for two people who one of them loathed the other,' James admitted.

'Where's Lily, anyway?' Sirius inquired.

'Their family has dinner with her sister's fiancé's family,' he told him, and laughed. 'She didn't look too happy about it, though; I could easily tell that this was one dinner she'd rather skip.' Sirius nodded, and James frowned at him again. 'No, seriously, Sirius, what's wrong with you? Mind you, if you don't give me a satisfying answer I'm going to jinx you.'

Sirius chuckled. 'Knowing that you're still able to jinx me without a second thought was all I needed to know,' he told him. He patted his shoulder. 'Thanks, mate.'

James stared, bewildered, at his best friend. 'That's it, no more liquor for you,' he said firmly.

Sirius smiled. 'I'm sorry, James...it's just that...after the two of you get married, you won't have anymore time for your friends; you're gonna be around Lily the whole time, and we won't be able to go to bars and get drunk and have fun whenever we want,' he murmured. 'And then you'll have a kid, and then we won't be even able to come over to your place because Lily will say that we're loud and we'll wake up the baby, so...'

Sirius broke off when he hear him laughing. James thumped the table with his fist as he laughed. 'God, Sirius; you're hilarious!' he wheezed, as he wiped tears of mirth out of his eyes. 'You think that just because I'm getting married to Lily, I won't be hanging around you anymore?'

Sirius shrugged. 'Well, basically...yes,' he mumbled.

Laughing, James grabbed Sirius's head in a headlock and ruffled his hair. 'Wow! I didn't know you were jealous of Lily!!' he exclaimed.

Sirius broke free of his friend's grip, and looked away so that James won't see the blush which had crept up his face. 'Don't talk rubbish! I'm not jealous!!' he snapped. 'I'm just saying that after you and Lily get married, you won't have time for your friends! That's all!! Honestly, the things you come up with!'

James smiled. 'Well, whatever you call it,' he agreed. 'But you should know, Sirius, that no matter what happens with me, you're always going to be my best mate. Lily knows that, and she totally respects it, and would never do anything to affect this friendship...so, I want you to shake all these silly thoughts out of your head because they don't even have a basis to start with.'

Sirius didn't say anything for a moment, and then he chuckled. He rubbed the back of his head. 'God, I sounded really stupid back there, didn't I?' he murmured.

'Yeah, you did,' James agreed.

-

Lily Apparated with a loud Pop! in her bedroom. She listened closely, and found that she could hear the booming sound of Vernon Dursley talking in the living room. She cursed under her breath; she was late. She quickly looked in her closet for something appropriate to wear, slipped it on, and hurried down to the living room. Putting on her brightest smile, she walked in through the door of the living room.

'Hello!' she said cheerfully. 'Sorry I'm late!'

However, she was a bit taken aback when no one said anything. She frowned at the occupants of the room. Mr. and Mrs. Dursley were watching her with a wary, kind of scared look, and Lily's parents looked rather troubled. Petunia and Vernon were looking nervously between their parents.

'Er...what's wrong?' she asked.

Mrs. Dursley gave out a false laugh. 'It's just that we didn't hear you come in, dear...we were just startled by you, that's all,' she told her.

'Oh, right,' Lily murmured. Why didn't she think of coming in through the door?

'Erm...Lily came in through the backdoor, didn't you, Lily?' her mother said quickly, and Lily nodded.

She walked in and settle down on the couch between her parents. She was able, then, to have a good look at the Dursleys, and almost wished she hadn't made that acquaintance. She didn't think she'd ever met a pair who looked any less pleasant than those two did. Mr. Dursley was large and beefy, just like Vernon, and Mrs. Dursley was a short, squatty woman with a thin mouth and a squashed nose. She didn't fail to notice that Vernon's sister, Marge, was no were to be seen, and that was a huge relief. But still, even though Mr. and Mrs. Dursley were both smiling, their smiles were absolutely fake. They were now watching her with those small, beady eyes of theirs.

'So, Lily...' Mr. Dursley was saying, and she turned to him with a smile. '...what exactly do you do? Do you work?'

Lily blinked. That was an odd sort of question, considering that the two people who were supposed to be in question at the moment were Petunia and Vernon. Nevertheless, she continued to smile politely. 'Yes, Mr. Dursley, I do happen to work,' she told him. 'In fact, I work in a bank.'

That seemed to catch the man's interest. 'Oho, a bank, eh?' he said. 'What's the name of the bank, if you don't mind me asking?'

'Gringotts,' Lily said, and immediately wished she could take it back as they both exchanged looks.

'Gringotts Bank, dear?' Mrs. Dursley said. 'I don't believe I've ever heard of such a bank. Have you, Harold?'

Mr. Dursley shook his head. 'No, I don't believe I've heard of it,' he replied. 'Is it a local bank?'

'Ah...no, it isn't!' she said quickly. 'It's a foreign bank, and had a small branch here in London. I manage the bank's transaction from here, because the owners can't keep up between their different branches. Erm...you wouldn't find it anywhere if you looked, though, because the branch is merely a small office.'

'Right,' he said, nodding his head slowly.

Her mother seemed to have noticed the tension in the atmosphere because she got up quickly to her feet and clapped her hands. 'Well, since we're all here, why don't we go and have dinner?' she suggested. 'I do believe you're all hungry, aren't you?'

'Yes, mother, good idea,' Petunia agreed hurriedly, while she shot a scathing look at her sister. 'This way, please, Mr. and Mrs. Dursley.'

Lily sighed, and hoped that no casualties would happen at the dinner table...but she found out that that was just too much to hope for. Once she got really annoyed when Mr. Dursley made an indirect remark about her saying that one can only be successful if they worked in a big firm, which caused her to make the lobster on his plate to click his claws menacingly...and there was the other time when Mrs. Dursley's wig _accidentally _flew from her head, and that was just when she had been saying that redheads aren't too appealing, and then Lily had gone and said that bald people weren't considered trustworthy.

The rest of the evening was just as bad, and Lily could only breath properly when the door had closed after the Dursleys...and she could tell that her parents felt the same way; it was obvious that they didn't like the Dursleys either. Petunia was the only one who looked positively beside herself with anger.

'You...!! Do you have any idea what you've just done?' she demanded angrily.

'No, I don't,' Lily said simply.

'Vernon's parents now think we're freaks or something!' she yelled. 'And it's all because you couldn't keep your...your _thing _under a leash!'

Lily looked calmly back at her. 'I believe the word you're looking for is magic?' she said.

Petunia threw her hands up in frustration. 'God, I hate you!!' she cried. 'You know, if anything should happen to prevent my marriage to Vernon, then I'll make sure you don't get to marry that Potter of yours either!'

That hit a nerve. Lily whipped out her wand and jabbed it in her sister's chest. 'Listen here, Petunia...nothing, and I mean nothing, can come between me and James; I can make sure of that,' she hissed. 'Do you understand me?'

'Now, now, girls...' their father said, stepping in between them. 'I don't believe we're all...tired, so let's cool it down, alright?'

Lily continued to glare at Petunia, who was now chalk-white with fear, and then she smiled sweetly at her. 'Yes, you're right, dad,' she agreed, and lowered her wand. 'I do feel tired. I think I'll go up to my room and rest for a while.'

'Good,' he said, smiling. 'Oh, and Lily, one more thing. When are you going to invite the Potters over for dinner? We really would like to meet them, wouldn't we, Carol?'

Her mother nodded. 'Yes, be sure to invite them soon, okay?' she said, and Lily slowly nodded.

She turned on her heels and climbed the stairs up to her bedroom. There, she just sat on her bed for a few moments, thinking about what her parents had said. For some reason, an odd feeling of anxiety was building up inside her chest. She suddenly stood up, and within a few seconds, she had Disapparated from her bedroom and Apparated in James's. To her surprise, it wasn't James that we found sleeping on the bed; it was Sirius. Confused, she left the bedroom and went into the living room, and found James sleeping on the couch.

She couldn't help but smile a little; James always looked so cute when he was sleeping. She knelt down beside him and gently started to shake him awake. 'James...James, sweetheart, wake up, please,' she said, softly, and he stirred. 'Come on...wake up.'

James opened his eyes, and his gaze met hers. He smiled sleepily. 'Mmm, this is just how I like to wake up...with your face before mine,' he murmured. 'Are you naked?'

Lily laughed. 'No, silly! I'm not naked!' she said.

Smiling, she leaned down and kissed him, and he pulled her on top of him on the couch, and wrapped his arms tightly around her. They kissed passionately for a rather long while, and by the time they broke apart, they were both rather breathless. James propped himself up against his pillow, and Lily just curled up against him, head rested against his chest. James stroked her head.

'Of course, I would've preferred to have done this on the bed with both of us naked, but...' he remarked, and she giggled. 'So, to what do I owe this pleasure? I thought you had dinner with your sister's in-laws?'

'Yeah, I did, and thank god it's over,' she mumbled. 'But...that's not why I came here. My parents suggested that your family and they should have dinner together.'

'Well, that's a wonderful idea!' he exclaimed, but when she didn't comment, he realized that wasn't the best thing to say. 'You...don't think it's a wonderful idea?'

'No, it's not like that!' she replied. She sighed. 'It's just that today at dinner, my parents didn't really like the Dursleys, you know? And I'm just worried that your parents and my parents won't like each other as well! And I really, _really _want everything to be perfect!'

James chuckled. 'Lily, sweetheart, that's your problem; you just worry too much,' he told her. He kissed the top of her head. 'And I love you for that. But, you know, if you let everything work out at its own pace, it will all come out perfectly at the end, you'll see.'

Lily looked up at him. 'Really?' she said, hopefully.

James smiled down at her. 'Yes, really,' he assured her. 'And anyway, you and I are involved in this; it's not even remotely possible for anything to go wrong.'

Lily smiled back at him. 'I love you,' she said, softly.

'I love you, too,' he murmured, leaning down to kiss her again.

When they pulled apart, Lily frowned. 'Just one more thing,' she said. 'What the hell is Sirius doing in your bedroom?'

James laughed. 'Long story,' he told her. 'Bottom line, Sirius was so drunk that when he tried to Disapparate, he Apparated in the wine cellar of the pub.'

-

**A/N: Done!! (laughs) What do you think? Was it good? Y'know, I'm starting to feel bad for doing all this things to Sirius. Hehe. Well, anyway, I do hope you've liked this one because I'll be wanting reviews!! Ooh, and I'll try to update much sooner next time! **

_- S. N. B. _


	7. Chapter 6

**D/C: I don't own Harry Potter. **

**Hello!! I'm back with my sixth chapter!! First of all, I want to say how grateful I am for all the reviews you've sent me, and second of all...hmm, well, enjoy reading the chapter!!**

**Chapter 6:**

'How does it look in there?'

Lily leaned over James so that she could have a peek through the door. Both her parents and James's parents were sitting in the living room, and so far, there hadn't been any problems. In fact, their parents were hardly saying anything for problems to start in the first place! Lily bit down anxiously on her bottom lip, before grabbing James by the collar and dragging him back into the kitchen. She folded her arms against her chest and breathed in deeply. James just looked at her with polite puzzlement.

'Er...Lily?' he said uncertainly.

Lily threw up her arms in frustration. 'I know, I know that I'm being too paranoid, but I can't help it!' she cried out. She gestured impatiently at the door which led to the living room. 'I mean, look at them!! They're barely said anything to each other!!'

They paused when they heard a sound coming from the living room, and they both strained their ears to hear any other possible sounds, before they finally realized that someone had coughed and the rest were saying, "Bless you".

'God!! It can't be any worse than this, can it?' she said, apparently exasperated.

James chuckled. 'Of course it can; Petunia could've been here!' he teased her. But when Lily continued to look upset, he reached out and pulled her into his arms. He kissed the top of her head as she leaned against him. 'Lily, sweetheart; it's alright. Don't worry; everything will turn out okay.'

'I really hope so,' she said unhappily. She pulled away from him and looked around at the kitchen; where all the different dishes Mrs. Potter had prepared for dinner were lying about. She took out her wand and waved it at the plate bearing the meat loaf, and it flew up and hovered in mid-air. 'Well, I guess we should start setting up the table.'

James followed suite, and waved his wand around three different dishes, and started juggling them all in mid-air. Lily rolled her eyes before guiding her hovering plate to the dining room, through the living room, with James close at her heels. Lily's parents looked slightly alarmed when they saw all the dishes flying in the air, and recoiled in their seats. But the Potters' merely smiled, and Mr. Potter started assuring their guests that it was perfectly normal.

'James, dear, don't play with the food,' Mrs. Potter scolded him gently.

'Sorry, mum!' he replied. He followed Lily into the dining room and landed all three dishes safely on the table. He looked up and saw Lily scowling at him. 'What? Oh, for God's sake, I was just fooling around! You can't tell me your parents were scared because of me; you were using a Hover Charm, too!'

Lily rolled her eyes. She raised her wand again. '_Accio plates!_' she called out, and a set of plates zoomed into her arms (they heard a soft cry from the living room), and she started laying them around the table. '_Accio spoons! Accio forks! Accio...!' _

James quickly cut her off and raised a wooden tray that had been lying on the table to block off the spoons and forks which were heading right at them, and the whole bunch fell to the floor with a clatter. He bent down, picked them up and handed them to her. 'Okay, so we now who the better wizard is here,' he said, an eyebrow raised quizzically at her. 'But I'd rather I got the knives the old-fashioned way, alright? And besides, I think you've almost given your mother a heart attack.'

Lily sighed again. 'I'm sorry; I'm just too nervous,' she mumbled, as she started to set the spoons and forks next to the plates. 'I'm worried this might turn out to be as horrible as the dinner with the Dursleys! Petunia will be gloating like anything!'

James squeezed her shoulders gently. 'Don't worry; it won't,' he said. He kissed her on the cheek. 'I'll go get the knives, shall I?'

He got the knives, and after they made sure the table was set perfectly (Lily double-checked everything), they called their parents in. Her parents smiled nervously at her, and they gingerly sat down on the chairs that James drew out for them, as if afraid the chairs might start flying or something. James's parents sat across from them, and Lily and James took a seat at the heads of the table. James smiled encouragingly at her and started to ladle food onto the plates.

'Well, this is nice,' he said pleasantly, once he'd settled back on his chair. He gestured around at the table. 'All of us, sitting at the same table, having dinner together. By the way, the meat loaf is excellent, as usual, mother, did I tell you that? Don't you think so, Mrs. Evans?'

Mrs. Evans was caught by surprise, and she quickly dabbed at her mouth with her handkerchief. 'The meat loaf? Oh, yes! It's really delicious, Jane. You must give me the recipe, if that's okay with you,' she said, smiling.

Mrs. Potter looked flattered. 'Why, thank you, Carol; how very nice of you to say!' she exclaimed. 'Of course, the recipe is the family's secret, but...seeing as we're all going to become one family, I, of course, wouldn't mind sharing.'

'Oh, and maybe Mrs. Evans could teach you how to make treacle tart, mother,' James suggested. 'It's really amazing.'

Lily smiled gratefully at James, and decided to take a step, herself. She laid her hand over her father's. 'Dad, did I tell you that Mr. Potter also collects currencies?' she said conversationally. 'Of course, he collects wizarding money, so you might find it really interesting.'

'Wizarding money, eh?' her father said. 'That does sound interesting. You wouldn't mind showing me your collection, now would you, Andrew?'

Mr. Potter ignored Mr. Evans, who looked rather offended. Lily suddenly remembered that her father-in-law's hearing ability wasn't that good. She tugged at her father's arm. 'Erm, dad? I think you might want to raise your voice a bit,' she said, feeling slightly apprehensive.

Her father frowned slightly. 'Oh, alright. Oy, Andrew!' he said loudly, and the latter looked up, smiling politely at him. 'Lily here was telling me about your coins' collection. You wouldn't mind showing them to me, would you?'

'My loin?' Mr. Potter said, puzzled, and raised up the piece of loin he was eating.

'No! No! Your coins!' Mr. Evans said, bewildered.

'My groin?' Mr. Potter repeated, looking shocked.

The whole table was looking appalled. 'Your coins!!' they all yelled.

Mr. Potter chuckled. 'Oh, my coins! Why didn't you say so, in the first place? Of course I would! It'd be a pleasure!' he said, and they all sighed in relief. He started on his loin again. 'You know, if you'd been saying groin...why, I'd have thrown you out of my house right this very instance!'

They all laughed, and as conversations broke out around the table, James threw Lily a secret wink, and she found herself grinning; he was right; she just only had to let things work out at its own pace, and it all came out perfectly at the end.

-

'I love you.'

James looked down in surprise at Lily, who was leaning against him. They were both sitting on the swinging chair on the front porch of his parents' house. Dinner was over and they'd had dessert, and they both thought it would be better to leave their parents on their own to their own discussions, especially since they'd both started talking about the things _they_ did when they were young; at which Lily and James felt so uncomfortable and had to bail. 'Where did that come from?' he asked her curiously.

Lily smiled and snuggled closer to him. 'Can't a girl just appreciate her fiancé?' she asked.

'Of course she can...but why are you just telling me that you love me out of the blue?' he demanded.

Lily pouted at him. 'Why couldn't you just tell me that you loved me too and just be done with it?' she said accusingly. But when he continued to look baffled, she just laughed. 'I love you because you were simply amazing tonight. Seriously, I don't know what I've done without you; you got our parents talking to each other in no time!'

'Well...' James murmured, rubbing the back of his head. 'You looked at your wits' end, and I just wanted to try and help...'

Lily laughed. 'You're right; I was at my wits' end,' she admitted, and craned her neck up so she could give him a light kiss. 'But because of you, everything went really smoothly. Did I ever mention how lucky I am to have you for fiancé?'

James smiled. 'No, you didn't,' he replied, stroking her hair. 'Because I'm just as lucky to have an amazing girl like you as a fiancée. I love you, too.'

'Hey, I have an idea,' she said, suddenly. She pulled away from him and turned around on the swing, so she'd be facing him. 'How about we list the things we like about each other? It'll be fun! Let's do it!'

James looked hesitant. 'Oh, I don't know about that, sweetheart,' he replied.

'Why not?' she asked, and he just shrugged. She tugged impatiently at the sleeve of his shirt. 'Why are you so worried? Come on! I'll go first, alright? Okay, let me see...I like the way you look so cute and peaceful when you're sleeping.'

James sighed. 'Lily, this is...' he started, and she shot him a warning look. 'Alright, alright...I'll play along with you. I...I like the way your nose wrinkles up and your eyes twinkle when you laugh. It makes me want to smile.'

Lily looked really touched. 'Wow...erm, okay,' she murmured. 'Well, then...I like the way you sometimes try to explain things to me; it makes me feel so happy.'

James raised an eyebrow at her. 'Really? I thought you always said it made you feel stupid,' he said accusingly, and she laughed and shook her head. 'I like the way you get so worried and anxious about things...like tonight's dinner, for example.'

Lily blushed. 'That's over! Jeez!' she protested. 'Fine. I like the way you make me laugh. You always make me laugh.'

James smiled. 'Glad I could be of help,' he quipped. 'Okay, then...I like the way you sometimes pop into my house without any warning...except, of course, the times when I'm the one who wants to surprise you, and you end up in front of me and I yell and drop the very expensive bottle of champagne on the floor.'

Lily laughed. She remembered that incident all too well, what with the two of them standing in front of each other, dripping with champagne. Of course, what followed that had been really special. She reached out and started fingering the button of his shirt. 'Well, I like he way the you talk,' she told him, and he frowned at her. 'Yeah! I do!! You just have your own way of speaking...it's so smart and witty. Really catching.'

James puffed out his chest. 'Well...I do try,' he said modestly.

She gave him a playful shove. But, when James looked down seriously and intently at her, she felt a familiar shiver run up her spine. 'I...I also like it when you look at me like that,' she said in a voice which was barely audible.

James stroked her cheek. 'Lily, I like the way you smile, the way you talk, the way you walk, the way you cry, the way you jump up and down excitedly when you get a promotion, the way sometimes come to my working place with a bag of donuts in your arms, the way your hair flies about your face when it's windy outside, the way you look after you've been soaked wet in the rain, the way you daintily eat your meals...I also love the way you look at me, the way you touch me, the way you kiss me...the way you make me feel special,' he said softly. 'But what I love most about you is the fact that you're my wife. Mine alone.'

Lily stared at him wordlessly for a moment, and then her eyes leaked with tears. She placed her hands on both sides of his face. 'You know, James? That's gotta be the sweetest thing any one ever said to me,' she whispered. James opened his mouth to say something, but she just touched a finger to his lips. She leaned forward and kissed him...deeply. When she pulled away, she was smiling through her tears. 'I simply love you.'

James gave her nose a gentle tweak. 'I love you, too, silly,' he teased her, and she laughed, and hastily wiped her tears away with the back of her hands. 'But, I gotta tell you, Lily, that was one wet kiss...which I love! I really do!'

Lily laughed and started swinging back and forth. She suddenly frowned and looked up at him. 'Hey...I heard Sirius and Remus talking about a bachelor party the other day,' she told him. 'Do you have any idea what's that's about?'

_A bachelor party? _James shook his head.

**-**

**A/N: Well, how was it? Y'know, while writing the last part I was listening to this really soft music, and I felt all so warm and fuzzy on the inside! Really, I love writing such chapters because they make me feel so happy!! Ah, well, anyway, please review, okie? I'll try to update as soon as possible!!**

_- S. N. B. _


	8. Chapter 7

**D/C: I don't own Harry Potter. **

**Hello!! I don't think it took me very long to update this time...right? I really hope it didn't, because, you see, I'm on vacation now and I'm having a bit of trouble keeping up with my stories! Well, anyway, thank you for the reviews you've sent on my last chapter; they've really made me happy! And now, without further ado, I'll turn off the babble faucet before I drown you, and leave you to read the seventh chapter! Enjoy!!**

**Chapter 7:**

'Haaah...'

Lily stared down at the glass case before her, which was filled with all sorts of wedding rings...down from plain gold ones to beautifully engraved rings. She had been wanting to go ring-shopping for so long, but had kept it to the very end because she'd wanted to do it with a clear head, and the day had finally come! Yet, she couldn't quite believe that February the fourteenth was actually tomorrow; their wedding day had arrived much more sooner than she had expected. It was only a miracle that she'd managed to finish all the wedding arrangements in time.

James chuckled. 'Don't hold back, alright, sweetheart?' he teased her.

Lily scowled at him. 'James, you obviously don't understand how important this is!! We are shopping for our wedding rings! We're going to be wearing those rings for the rest of our lives...you do realize that, don't you?' she said, testily.

'Of course I do, honey, but come on, it's only just a ring!' he said, sounding a bit exasperated.

Lily sighed. 'You men will never understand the importance of a wedding ring,' she mumbled. 'James, without this ring, our wedding tomorrow won't even work, alright? Without those rings, we're not really married! Besides, this ring will be a symbol of our love! Ain't I right? Help me on this!'

The salesman standing across from them smiled and nodded. 'You are extremely right, miss,' he agreed.

'See?' she said, gesturing at him.

James held up his hands in a surrender gesture. 'Alright, alright, I give. We're going to pick the most exquisite, most beautiful rings, and we won't hold back,' he murmured, and she beamed happily at him. 'No matter what the price is, we just won't hold back. Even if the price is an entire year's salary, we won't hold back. Even if the price means that we'll be living on the streets, we won't hold back because we'll be wearing beautiful rings around our fingers.'

'Oh, shut up, you!' Lily said, annoyed, and gave him a playful shove, while he laughed. Lily couldn't help the smile which had been tugging at the corners of her lips. 'Fine, let's get down to business. I'm thinking of something simple, and yet elegant at the same time...would you have something like that?'

The ring-shopping took a little more than she had expected, and she could see that James was already getting a bit distracted and irritated; he had never been a fan of shopping...no matter what kind of shopping it was. They went from one jewelry store to the other, and checked ring after the other until they finally nailed down two rings that they both really liked. Lily looked down in ecstasy at the beautiful platinum rings with the Versace engravings all around that were dotted with extremely tiny diamonds.

'Aren't they pretty?' she squealed, and to her relief, James had smiled and nodded in agreement.

Lily was all smiles by the time they left the store, as she held the small bag containing the rings as if it were something made of glass. She was really happy that they'd found those rings; they were really what she'd wanted.

James put an arm around her and pulled her tightly against him. 'It's tomorrow, then, isn't it?' he said softly.

'Yeah,' she whispered.

They didn't say anything else until they got to her house. They stood facing each other at the doorstep, both uncertain of what they should be saying. Emotions were jumping around in her chest, but Lily just didn't know how to express them.

'So, anything planned for tonight?' she asked him conversationally.

'Erm...yeah,' he replied. 'Sirius and guys are throwing me a bachelor party. They didn't say anything else about it, though. I'm supposed to be meeting them at the Leaky Cauldron.'

'Oh,' was all she said. She wondered what was wrong with them; why weren't they able to keep up a normal conversation? And why on Earth were they being so stiff towards each other? On the night before the wedding, too!!

'Lily, if you want, I could just ditch them and we could do something special together...just the two of us,' he told her, eyeing her mischievously.

Lily laughed, relieved that the tension had broken. 'Oh, no, you won't; I won't allow you to sweet-talk me into doing the things you want,' she said firmly. 'Besides, it's bad luck for the groom to see the bride before the wedding, remember?'

'Oh, for God's sake! Don't tell me you believe in that crap!' he said in exasperation.

'Well, my aunt's fiancé got into a car crash just before the wedding and died just because he wanted to do something special with her on the night before the wedding because of that crap,' she said challengingly.

'I won't be using a car, I'm going to be Apparating; I'm totally accident proof,' he told her.

Lily shook her head. 'You could still splinch,' she remarked and James winced. 'I'm not risking it, alright? So go out there and have fun with your little friends while I go over the wedding arrangements again and call up a slumber party with my friends.'

James sighed dramatically and shoved his hands deep into his pockets. 'Ah, well, it's your loss, anyway,' he said tragically.

'Just get out of here, you idiot!' she shouted.

James laughed, gave her a quick kiss on the lips before Disapparating right on the spot, leaving Lily still clutching the bag containing the rings, and with a tingling sensation in her lips. Smiling lightly, she turned on her heels and walked inside.

_I'm getting married tomorrow. _

_-_

'There you are!! We were wondering when you will be showing up!'

James waved at his friends as he made his way to the table where his friends were sitting. 'Sorry about that; Lily and I were doing some serious wedding ring-shopping,' he said, smiling apologetically at them.

'Ring-shopping, eh?' Sirius said, and heaved a dramatic sigh. 'James, you're becoming old without even realizing it.'

'Hey!' James said indignantly.

Sirius grinned and draped an arm around his shoulders. 'Which is why the sole purpose of this party is to make you feel ten years younger,' he continued, and James rolled his eyes; that didn't sound remotely like a compliment, either. Sirius looked around at Remus. 'What's the weather forecast for today, Moony?'

James frowned, puzzled, but Remus merely smiled. 'Clear skies, a cool breeze...' he said, and paused for a dramatic effect. '...and most important of all, a full moon is appearing tonight.'

Comprehension dawned upon James and he stared at the lot of them, but they just smiled. 'No way! You can't be serious!!' he exclaimed, and they shrugged. He rounded on Remus. 'Remus, don't tell me you haven't taken your potion tonight! That's crazy!'

'Everyone needs to go wild every once in a while,' Remus said wisely.

It was Sirius's turn to stare. 'That sounded weird coming from you, but, anyway,' he said, and Remus just sighed. He looked at James. 'James, c'mon, mate, we haven't done this sort of thing in ages!! Remember the fun we used to have, sneaking out of school and roaming the grounds and going up to the Shrieking Shack and making a mess out of the place? Do you remember all that?'

'Of course I do remember it, Sirius! These were some of the best days of my life!' James said irritably. 'But it's different now; we're adults and we have responsibilities...we just can't run amok in our animal forms! And Remus hasn't been a wild wolf for a while now; it's going to be risky having him transform into a true werewolf!'

'James, c'mon! You know you want to do this!' Peter piped up. 'Even Remus wants to do this!!'

Remus was looking absolutely unfazed, even though it seemed that he was the topic of this whole conversation. 'Look, James, it's already too late for you to have any saying in this; night falls in about thirty minutes, and we all know that it's impossible to brew up a potion in just half an hour...so just go with the flow, alright?' he told him. James opened his mouth to protest, and he held up a hand to silence him. 'It's as Peter said; I want to do this as well...it's been a while since I let the reign to my legs, do you understand me, James?'

James still looked extremely hesitant.

'Look, Prongs, we figured you wouldn't be able to do this once you were married, so we thought that this would be the perfect time to do this...I mean, we did think of holding a normal bachelor party, with strippers and booze and everything, but...' Sirius told him, and James stared incredulously at him. 'C'mon, mate...it's either now or never.'

James heaved a sigh. 'You guys are nuts,' he muttered, but then he chuckled. 'And I guess I'm as mad as you are, because I say let's do it!'

Half an hour later, the four of them were standing in the forest near to the village of Hogsmeade. James stared up anxiously at the sky, and saw that it was becoming steadily dark. He looked back at Remus, who was looking eerily pale in the moonlight; he could tell that the transformation was already beginning. As if on queue, Remus's limbs started to shake, his head lengthened, his shoulders hunched, hair was sprouting on his face and hands, which had already started to curl into clawed paws. Almost automatically, James transformed into a stag himself, and he looked around to see Sirius in the figure of a great black door, and the long, thin tail poking out of the grass indicated that Peter had transformed into a rat.

It was just like the old days.

He looked back at Remus, who was in his beast form now. The latter was growling in a low tone, his back arched, as he watched the three animals around them warily. For a brief moment, James thought that Remus was going to attack them and his whole body tensed up; he wondered whether this had been a bad idea from the start. But then, Remus seemed to relax, and he pounced playfully at Sirius; he'd always been more around Sirius when he was wolf, considering they both resembled each other. He watched as the two of them pawed at each other, and then he felt something scramble up his leg, and looked around to see Peter perched on his back.

If James had been still human, he would have laughed happily.

-

Somewhere on the bedside cabinet, the alarm clock vibrated and rang shrilly.

Feeling disgruntled, James rolled over in his bed and slammed a hand against the snooze button...for about the tenth time in the last hour. He was in no mood to get out of bed; he and his friends had roamed the grounds until dawn, chasing after wild animals and tearing up the Shrieking Shack and deliberately risking getting seen by humans, and he was feeling dead exhausted. He felt like he could stay in bed for the rest of his life if it were possible. Yet, he couldn't deny that the experience had been extremely good...he had needed a kick like that before he got married.

Ten minutes later, the alarm bell went off again, and this time, James did it the courtesy of checking the time. 10 30. It took but a few moments for his brain to register those four digital figures, and when it did, James bolted up in his bed.

He was running late! Extremely late! The wedding ceremony was supposed to be at eleven o'clock.

'Lily's going to _murder _me,' he groaned.

-

**A/N: Well? What did you think? I thought this chapter was pretty cool, although it was a bit short...don't you agree? Alright, lemme see...one, no two chapters left to go and I'll rid you people of me forever! (grins) Ah, well, anyway, please review, okie?**

_- S. N. B. _


	9. Chapter 8

**D/C: I don't own Harry Potter. **

**Hello! I apologize for not having updated in such a long while, but lately, I've sorta been getting writer's block when I wrote anything other than a one-shots. It's really been bugging me. Anyway, thank you for the reviews you've sent me, and without further delay, I'll let you read the eighth chapter. Enjoy!**

**Chapter 8:**

'Where's the blushing bride?'

Lily whirled around as Sirius walked into the room. She glared at him; she seriously wasn't in the mood for this. James was late...very late, in fact. It was already twenty to eleven, and there was still no sign of him, and the wedding service was planned to be exactly at eleven. She had wanted everything to go smoothly, but it didn't seem like her wish was going to granted; all the guests were here, and the vicar was waiting...but the groom was still not here.

She saw him taking a step back. 'Er...you look very pretty,' he told her.

She threw up her arms in exasperation. 'I don't understand why he's so late, Sirius!!' she exploded. 'He should've been here at ten o'clock in the very maximum! Just what kind of bachelor party did you throw him last night?'

'Erm...the unique kind,' he replied, and took another step back when she looked suspiciously at him. 'I'll go look for him now, shall I?'

In a flash of a moment, he had Disapparated from the room. Groaning, Lily slumped down on a nearby chair and put her face between her hands, and her mother hurried forward to soothe her. Petunia, who was sitting on a chair across the room from them, was wearing a very smug smile on her face...despite the fact that Remus's Disapparation had scared her out of her wits' end for a moment.

'Looks like we have a runaway groom,' she said in a sing-song voice.

Lily glared at her. 'I swear, Petunia, if one more word about James gets out of those lips of yours, I'm gonna whip out my wand and curse you,' she hissed, and Petunia recoiled slightly. Lily smiled; she had to admit that threatening her sister had made her feel a bit better. She looked around at her mother. 'Mum, he's late!!'

Her mother squeezed her shoulder gently. 'I know, sweetheart, I know,' she said gently. 'But he'll be here. James loves you, and you know it. He would never do anything to hurt you. He'll be here in time for the service. Don't worry about it.'

Lily sighed. 'I really hope so,' she said unhappily.

-

Sirius Apparated back again in James's apartment. He looked around frantically for a sign of the groom. He thought he heard a sound of rushing water coming from the bathroom, and he hurried forwards towards it. He knocked at the door.

'Yes?' came an irritated voice from inside the bathroom.

'Oh, thank God!' Sirius exclaimed, relieved. 'James! Have you got any idea about the time now? You're late for your wedding!!'

The sound of gushing water stopped, and the door flung open. James stood in the doorway, dripping from head to toe, while he held a towel around his waist. He was looking extremely panic-stricken. 'Don't you think I already know that?' he mumbled. 'Is Lily mad?'

Sirius remembered how Lily looked. She was blushing, alright...blushing a deep shade of magenta. He didn't think he had ever seen her looking so angry before, and he could understand why. He had to admit, that for some reason, this was his fault.

'Steaming,' he replied.

He glanced at the clock which was hanging on the wall opposite to them. 'Ten forty!! God, I can't believe I slept through the alarm!' he groaned. He hurried to the bedroom, went inside and slammed the door shut behind him. 'Is every one there?'

'Yeah, everyone's there,' Sirius shouted back through the closed door. 'Even that great bulk Lily's sister calls a fiancé is there!'

Sirius heard him groan again, and he chuckled as he made his way to the kitchen. Knowing James, he was bound to find something good in the fridge. However, when he went in there, his brow furrowed when he saw the six-pack of beer lying there on the counter; James wasn't the type to buy six-packs. He checked the cans, and was a tad surprised when he found that they were all empty.

James then came into the kitchen, in his boxers and shirt, while he hastily tried to do his tie. 'Sirius, do you know how to fix this?' he said irritably. 'I've never had to wear ties before in my entire life!'

Sirius came forward and started doing the tie. 'Have you been drinking last night, mate?' he asked casually.

James's eyes moved to the empty six-pack. 'Yeah, I have,' he said, giving a nonchalant shrug. 'It's really no big deal, anyway.'

'It is a big deal if you're drinking by yourself on the night before your wedding,' Sirius argued, and James frowned. Sirius finished doing the tie with a quick tug. 'It means that you're having second thoughts about your marriage, and that's definitely not good.'

'I'm not having second thoughts about my marriage!' he protested. He sighed. 'Look, I was just feeling thirsty last night when I came home, and I had some beer.'

'Six whole cans?' Sirius said incredulously.

'Erm...I was _very _thirsty?' James replied, and Sirius scowled at him.

James's shoulders slumped in defeat. 'Okay, okay, so I might be a little bit worried...okay, very worried,' he added as Sirius raised an eyebrow at him. 'But...it's just that married couples tend to have too many problems between them! They argue about bills, they argue about work, they argue about everything!! I've never argued with Lily, and I don't want to start doing it now! Not after being together for more than five years!'

'Oh, come _on_!' Sirius said, exasperated.

'I'm serious!' the latter insisted. 'Now that I think about it, Lily's going to be with me 24/7 from now on and...and I'm really not sure I could handle that!'

Sirius sighed. 'You know, James, when I saw Lily before I came here, she wasn't sitting there and wondering how she's going to spend her life with you and worrying about it...she was just angry because you're keeping her waiting...and she doesn't want to wait; she wants to get married to you as soon as possible...and she'd deal with the consequences later,' he told him, and James scowled at the last words; they weren't exactly a compliment. 'You do love her, don't you?'

'Of course I do!' he said quickly.

'And you do want to spend the rest of your life with her, don't you?' Sirius went on. James nodded vigorously. Sirius chuckled. 'What are you waiting for, then? Get your ass to the church, you lazy bastard! You mustn't keep your bride waiting!'

James laughed. 'Right. Okay, I'm going right now!' he announced.

Sirius was about to shout something encouraging, but then he noticed that his friend wasn't fully dressed yet. 'Er...James? You might want to put on some pants first,' he suggested.

James looked down, and a faint blush crept into his cheeks. 'Pants...right,' he murmured, before hurrying back to the bedroom.

-

'James...ah, you're finally here.'

James had to strain to retain his composure as he ran into the room where his father and Lily's father were waiting. True, he had Apparated here at the church, but he had had to run around looking for the room where he was supposed to meet his in-laws before heading out to the altar. He doubled up, panting, for a few moments, before finally straightening up and pushing his hair back with both hands.

'Sorry...I'm...late,' he gasped.

Lily's father gave him a rather disgruntled look, but his father came forward and thumped him cheerfully on the back. 'That's alright, m'boy! We all have our little mishaps!!' he assured him. 'Why, on _my _wedding day, I lost the wedding rings! And the vicar had to postpone the wedding four whole hours while we looked for them! In the end, we found them in the garbage bin back in my apartment! Your mother, dare I say, threw a fit back then!'

'Well, anyone would throw a fit if your husband-to-be threw the wedding rings in the garbage!' said his wife, as she and Mrs. Evans came in though a door from behind them. She looked at James, who was hastily looking through his pockets for the rings. 'Don't worry, sweetheart, the rings are in there with dear cousin Philly.'

James sighed in relief. 'I'm really sorry I'm late; I...over-slept,' he said, and only when he said it did he realize how lame that sounded. 'I swear I had set the alarm and everything, but I just slept right through it!'

The Evans all looked rather irritated with him, because Mrs. Evans shot him a disdainful look. 'Lily had been up since five o'clock in the morning,' she informed him.

James was about to point out that that was expected, since the bride would naturally have to get up early to get herself ready, but his mother shot him a warning look. 'Well, he's here now, isn't he? And right on time, too. There's really no point in bickering about it,' she said. When no one said anything, she smiled warmly at them. 'Shall we proceed with the ceremony, then?'

James was getting butterflies; he really wasn't ready to face the irritated mob of people waiting out there. He took in a deep breath, and went through the door which led inside the church. Without looking at any of the guests who were filling the pews, he made his way straight to the vicar, who was standing near the altar. Next to him stood Sirius, who gave him an encouraging smile, Remus and Mr. Potter. Across from him, the bridesmaids stood, all wearing flowing gowns of lilac-colored silk.

He glanced at his wristwatch just as it striked eleven. It was time.

The huge oak doors at the end of the chapel opened, and through it walked Nymphadora Tonks, looking exactly like the way he'd imagined her to be; with blue eyes and blond curls and a white dress. She was holding a basket full of flower petals and was sprinkling them around on the red carpet.

But James wasn't looking at her anymore...he was looking at the beautiful woman who had come walking behind her, arms linked with Mr. Evans. James had to strain to stop his jaw from dropping as he stared at Lily. There was only one word to describe her; stunning. She was wearing a beautiful white dress with a long train, and he noticed that she had enhanced it with a bit of magic, so that it sparkled as if it were covered by diamond studs. Her red hair had been pulled up and made into beautiful curls which reached down her bare back, and there were wispy tendrils strewn at the sides of her face. She didn't have than much make-up on her face, but she still looked totally beautiful.

James felt totally shabby compared to her.

When she reached his side and he extended his hand towards her, he expected her to shoot him an angry glare or something like that, but instead, she giggled. 'James, you can close your mouth now,' she whispered, taking his hand.

_Damn! It is hanging open, then!_ Blushing, he quickly clamped his mouth shut. He smiled at her and squeezed her hand gently. 'You look gorgeous,' he said softly.

Lily's cheeks became tinged with pink. 'Thank you,' she replied. 'You look very handsome yourself.'

The vicar cleared his throat and they both looked away from each other and stepped up towards him. They were still holding each other's hands, though, and both could feel the tension and the anticipation in the other.

The vicar started the ceremony. 'Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to...' he was saying.

But James was too busy stealing glances at his bride to notice what the man was saying. He had never imagined that Lily could be this beautiful. Not that she wasn't beautiful before, but seeing here now in the wedding gown...she looked like she was an angel who had just came down from Heaven. Sirius was right; he shouldn't have even worried about the whole thing from the beginning.

He was still looking at her when he felt a sharp stab at his foot. 'Ow!' he hissed, just as Lily withdrew her foot. She smiled sweetly at him. 'What?'

'Ehm,' the vicar said from behind him.

James whirled around, and saw the man frowning at him. 'What did I do?' he said anxiously, and there was a ripple of laughter around the church.

The vicar raised an eyebrow. 'I was saying...do you, James Potter, take Lily Evans...' he said, and James felt his face flaming up; they'd gotten to that part already? '...to be your lawfully wedded wife, to love and cherish, in sickness and in health?'

James nodded. 'Y-yes, I do,' he said, still feeling flustered. He felt a nudge against his thigh, and he looked down to see his cousin, Philly. He frowned at him. 'What do you want?'

'The rings?' his cousin reminded him, while he gave him an irritated look; _when did this kid become such a brat?_

James hastily picked up the ring from the red cushion the boy was holding up for him, and slid it around his bride's finger, under her own condensing glare. 'Did I mention how beautiful you look?' he whispered, but she continued to scowl at him.

Lily, then, turned to the vicar. 'Do you, Lily Evans, take James Potter to be your lawfully wedded husband, to love and cherish, in sickness and in health?' he asked her.

Lily was looking totally dignified. 'I do,' she replied in a smooth, crisp voice, before she picked up the second ring and slid it around James's finger.

The vicar smiled at them. 'With the power invested in me, I know pronounce you husband and wife,' he said, before turning to look at James. 'You may now kiss the bride.'

The newly-wedded couple turned to face each other, and they took a few steps closer to each other. James smiled at his wife and stroked her cheek; he could tell that she was still a bit irritated with him. 'I love you,' he said softly.

Lily's anger seemed to melt away, and she smiled. 'I love you, t...' she said, but never got to complete her sentence as his lips closed in on hers, and they leaned against each other, kissing while the guests around them cheered and clapped.

They were married!!!

-

**A/N: Done!!! Wow! I can't believe I got over with the wedding part! Lemme see...one more chapter left to go!! Yup!! Just one!! Reception, wedding speeches, honeymoon suite...it's going to be pretty funny, I believe! Well, until then, would you please review? Thanks!!**

_- S. N. B. _


	10. Chapter 9

**D/C: I don't own Harry Potter.**

**Hello!! I'm finally back with my last chapter!! I know it's been a while since I updated, but I was out of ideas for this chapter...I mean, I really didn't know how to start it, and the start of a chapter is the most important thing to me! Well, anyway, I'll stop babbling now and let you read. Oh, and individual thanks at the bottom!**

**Happy Reading!!**

**Chapter 9:**

'We're married...'

It didn't matter how much she said it, but Lily still loved the sound of it. James smiled down at her and kissed the top of her head. Sighing blissfully, she rested her head against his chest as they slowly danced to the music. They were the only ones on the dance floor. Even though almost all the guests had been dancing when the music started, but after a brief while, they had all retreated and left the floor for the newly-wedded couple.

Even though she always thought that other girls were exaggerating when they claimed that their weddings were the best days of their lives, but now she finally knew what they meant; she had never felt happier in her life before. After all, she was married to the most amazing guy in the world.

'I love you,' she said softly.

James wrapped his arms around her and pulled her tightly against him, and rested his chin on her shoulder. 'I love you, too, you know I do,' he replied.

'Mmm, I know; but it feels good to hear you saying it,' she replied. She suddenly felt a tap on her shoulder, and she looked around to see Sirius, who was smiling at them. She frowned, puzzled. 'Oh, Sirius! Er...is something wrong?'

Sirius shrugged. 'Well, I was wondering if I could have a dance with you,' he replied, and Lily continued to frown, while James gave him a questioning look. 'But of course, if the groom minds and is starting to get possessive from the beginning...'

'What? No!' James exclaimed, and Lily laughed. Scowling, he released her and handed her hand over to Sirius. 'Don't you dare tread on her feet, you hear?'

Sirius smiled. 'Don't worry. Of course I won't; I'm not you,' he said smoothly, and before James could protest, he had swept Lily off onto the dance floor. They waltzed silently for a few moments. 'You look beautiful, Lily, you really do.'

Lily smiled back at him. 'Why, thank you, Sirius,' she replied. 'Although...I'm slightly confused. To what do I owe the honor of dancing with the famous Sirius Black?'

Sirius chuckled. 'Not everything I do has an ulterior motive, Lily,' he remarked, and she rolled her eyes. 'You people always take me for granted; mark my words, when I die you're going to look back and regret ever being mean to me.'

'Sirius, is this conversation going somewhere, or are we just talking for no reason?' she persisted.

'No, no; I assure you that I'm getting to my point; I only wanted to talk to you about James, that's all,' he told her, to which she raised her eyebrows in surprise. He shrugged. 'You know, I found him really freaked out this morning when I went looking for him, mumbling stuff about being worried that you two may end up fighting and arguing...before finally filing for divorce. It was something along the lines of, if getting married to you meant arguing, then he didn't want it.'

Lily's expression softened, on the contrast to what Sirius had expected. 'He did, did he?' she murmured.

'And...well, I just want you to know that it's quiet normal for any guy to have such thoughts before his wedding; I mean, you girls aren't the only ones who get worried about marriages and weddings, you know. So, umm, well...you have to cut James some slack, you see...' he said in a rush, and he broke off when he heard her laughing. 'What?'

Lily clutched on to him as she laughed, and he looked down at her, apparently annoyed. 'Oh, God, Sirius; you should hear yourself!!' she wheezed.

'I really don't know whether to feel happy or insulted,' he muttered. Lily ceased her laughing, and she stood on tiptoe and kissed him on the cheek, which really took him by surprise. 'Okay...now what was that for?'

'That was for being the most amazing friend James and I could have ever asked for; you're much better than what a mail-order friend would be!' she cracked, and he rolled his eyes. 'Seriously, though, you worry too much about us, and you keep doing all sorts of things to make sure that we're happy. I know you probably think that I'm going to keep James away from you once we get married, and you still put up with it for the sake of our happiness...'

'Aw, come on, Lily, you're exaggerating,' he murmured, lowering his gaze.

She shook her head. 'No, I'm not...and by the way, I will let James go out and play whenever he wants, so you don't have to worry about it,' she said softly, and he positively beamed at her. 'Alright, I have one question for you.'

'Ask anything,' he replied.

'When you talked about guys who worry about their marriages, where you including yourself in that arena?' she asked slowly, and his eyes widened. She grinned mischievously. 'Because, you know, you're still not married, and now that I think about it, it may be due to the fact that you're afraid of marriages!'

Sirius quickly pulled away from her. 'Bullshit!' he hissed. 'You women come up with the weirdest ideas!!'

As he stalked off away from her, she cupped her hands around her mouth and shouted after him, 'Don't try to deny it, Sirius!! And when I throw my bouquet, I'm gonna make sure you're the one who catches it!!'

'No!!'

-

'Attention, please!!'

James chuckled as Sirius called out for the attention of the guests, but failed miserably. They were in the reception hall now; the cake had been cut and distributed among the guests, and the champagne bottles had had all their corks popped out and their contents poured out. Everyone was now seated at their tables, and the families and friends of the bride and groom took the main table.

Lily was sitting next to him, talking to one of her bridesmaids, and Sirius was sitting on his other side. He leaned over towards him. 'Sirius, mate, the public seem to be ignoring you,' he told him.

Sirius scowled at him. He picked up his spoon and started hitting it against his champagne glass. 'People, I would like to say...' he said loudly, and paused when the glass smashed. He stared, bewildered at it, before looking around to see that everyone was watching him. He grinned nervously. 'Hi!'

The guests continued to watch him.

'Well, okay,' he murmured. 'I guess it's time for my wedding speech, so...'

He looked around at Lily and James, and they both beamed encouragingly at him. He took in a deep breath and stood up.

'Well, when James told me that he was getting married, I simply couldn't believe my ears…I never thought that my best mate was the type to take a step into commitment without being forced to it,' he said, and James scowled at him. 'But there you go…I was wrong. Not only did James make the first move, but he also managed to pull the whole wedding deal off! So far, I haven't noticed anything wrong with this wedding…except perhaps the physical demeanors of some of the guests.'

He looked pointedly at Petunia and Vernon Dursley, at which point Lily had to give him a warning look, while trying to stifle her laughter.

Sirius smiled. 'Never mind that,' he said casually. 'Moreover, when James told me he was getting married…I couldn't help but feel a little sad. Call me selfish, but part of me didn't want him to get married. I felt like that step would take him away from me…and I couldn't deal with that, because James had been my best mate and my brother ever since our first year at Hogwarts…"

At the mention of "Hogwarts", many of the guests exchanged puzzled glances, and Sirius remembered that he wasn't supposed to mention anything of Hogwarts or magic since a lot of the guests were Muggles.

He smiled apologetically. 'School…in Scotland,' he said hastily, and there was a murmur of "Ahhs!!" amongst the guests. 'Well, as I was saying…James and I had been very close, and we still are…and I thought that Lily might take my best mate away from me…but I was being too harsh on Lily, I must admit. By this marriage I didn't lose any friends…I gained myself a new family.'

He looked around and grinned at the newly-married couple. James was grinning back, and Lily was looking deeply touched, and mouthed a thank you at him.

'Of course, now that I approve of the pair of you, you're going to have to bear with the consequences,' he warned them, and they both frowned inquiringly at that. 'You're going to have to expect me for lunch everyday, since I'm too tired of fast food at the moment."

James groaned, and there was a collective laugh from the guests, before they all started clapping.

'Way to go, Sirius!' Peter said, clapping his hands.

'Nice speech, mate,' Remus told him.

Sirius gave an exaggerated bow to the guests, before taking his seat again. He looked at his friends. He smiled at them…and there was a slight moisture to his eyes. 'Congratulations,' he said in a choked whisper.

-

'Well, this went well!'

James took a glance around their suite in the hotel they were going to spend their honeymoon. After the reception was over and everything, he and Lily had to go through the strain of having to _ride_ away on a vehicle, so that the Muggle guests wouldn't suspect anything. However, their choice of vehicle, Sirius's huge motorbike, mortified the guests instead of easing their suspicions.

They had left the bike after they'd moved a good distance away, and Disapparated and Apparated themselves at the entrance to a hotel in Australia, where they had decided to spend their honeymoon.

He looked around at Lily, who had plopped down on the petal-strewn bed and was fidgeting with the folds of her white dress. She had a distant look upon her face, and was staring into something James couldn't quiet see…but it didn't matter, for she looked amazing just the way she was. He made his way towards her, and knelt before her.

He took both her hands between his and smiled up at her. 'Hey,' he said softly.

Lily smiled back. 'Hey,' she replied.

'What are you thinking, sweetheart?' he asked her.

Lily withdrew her hands from his and placed them around his face. 'I was just thinking how lucky I am to be married to an amazing guy such as you,' she said earnestly.

James stroked her cheek. 'The feeling's mutual, darling,' he replied. He smiled at her again. 'What did you think of the wedding?'

Lily grinned at the mention of the wedding. 'I seriously couldn't have asked for anything better,' she admitted. 'Everything was so perfect! Nothing really went wrong, and none of out wizard friends did anything out of the ordinary!'

James raised an eyebrow. 'Are you forgetting, Sirius?' he asked.

Lily laughed. 'Of course I'm not forgetting Sirius! I doubt anyone will forget Sirius after today! He really was the centre of the entire party! Everyone thought he was amazing!' she exclaimed. 'All my cousins were asking me for his phone number…I told them he was already taken, just to avoid saying that he didn't really have a phone.'

'I really don't think that put them off…especially when he caught your bouquet,' James replied, his eyes twinkling with merriment. 'If you ask me…I find it highly weird that the bouquet flew over the heads of all those females, and fell into the lap of Sirius, who was sitting at the back.'

Lily tried to appear innocent. 'I don't know what you're talking about, James; I just happen to have a good arm,' she said in a dignified tone.

James laughed. 'You're an absolute angel, you know that?' he teased her. He got up from the floor and sat down on the bed next to her. 'Well…let's not talk about Sirius now, shall we? I can think of some more interesting stuff for us to do than talk about him at the moment…'

Lily gave him a mischievous look. 'Yeah? Things like what?' she said softly.

James smiled at her, his fingers tracing the side of her face. 'I don't know…what would you like to do?' he whispered. 'I'm all yours now.'

Lily smiled. 'I like the sound of that,' she murmured.

-

While James and Lily enjoyed their first night of married life…things weren't looking up for a certain guy living on the other side of the sphere. Normally, guys would be thrilled to be in the company of four pretty girls at the same time, but Sirius was really wasn't in the mood for punch-drunk-love girls at the moment; he just wanted to stay at home, down a few beers, and brood on his upcoming new relations with Lily and James. He didn't want to party tonight.

He found himself smiling forcibly at the four girls who had insisted they come home with him to see where he lived, since he was a rich boy and everything…and apparently, they have never experienced the lifestyle of the rich before. Sirius was left with no choice but to get a cab, since James had taken his motorbike, and load the girls in it and take him to his apartment.

He really didn't know why this was happening to him…it seemed as if all the trouble had started once that darned bouquet had fell into his unsuspecting lap, and after that, all the gals at the reception seemed to only have eyes for him. That bouquet was jinxed; he could tell it was!!!

One of the girls, a pretty lass with blond hair, suddenly started fanning herself with her hand. Then, to Sirius's horror, she started unbuttoning the top buttons on her blouse.

'Wow, it's really hot here, isn't it?' she said, smiling seductively at him.

_Lily...I hate you._

-

**A/N: DONE!!!!! Oh my God, I can't believe this story took such a long while to finish…I mean, it's not even that long!! But you know Writer's Block…it doesn't really have a schedule at which it appears. Well, now that this is done, I feel a sense of emptiness…I'm thinking of writing a story with the Marauders still in school, and they're a rock band, but I'm not really sure about it. What do you think?**

**I also want to tell you people why I've been so caught up to write anything. There's this Harry Potter site I found (it's a forum, actually), but it's sort of like Hogwarts. You have classes, Quidditch Games, Hogsmeade, the Burrow, Diagons Alley, and many other things! It's really so cool, and I've made a lot of friends there! I've been sorted into Ravenclaw, and I'm now a Prefect, and a Beater!! Why don't you check it out? Here's the site: finalprophecy (dot) proboards50 (dot) com/index (dot) cgi **

**Just remove all the brackets and replace them with actual dots. Tell them Zen sent you!!!**

**Finally, I'd like to thank…**

**Lady Potter of Tortall, Adelaide MacGregor, asianhomie101, elven cats eyes, red head, amose, iwishiwereathogwarts, lucerito-del-alma, mimbulus-mimbletonia, Miss Sirius, Amenti, Hikari Annie, Zippy-Wings, Lily's Petal, redglasses, Clueless Girl, messyblackhair66, Luna the Moon Fairy, Super Cara, RandomObsessivePsychoFangril, Richard Cypher, Dudette13, Issa1711, DolphinDreamer24-7, eliza-w, Kiari Sage, marauders rox**

…**for reading and reviewing my story! THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!! I couldn't have written this without your support!**

**Bye bye!**

_- S. N. B._


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